Saxion University of Applied Sciences
Bachelor`s thesis -- A integrated model for change to improve the project lifecycle and use of organisational goals with a business scorecard -Frederik Tetteroo
I dedicate this thesis to colleagues and friends from Monwabisi. Thank you all for the eyeopening experiences you gave me during my stay in Izamo Yethu.
Saxion University of Applied Sciences Bachelor`s thesis
A integrated model for change to improve the project lifecycle and use of organisational goals with a business scorecard – Case study Lightspeed –
Thesis to achieve the Degree of Bachelor of Science at the Saxion University of Applied Sciences
Presented by: Frederik Tetteroo
[email protected] Tel: 0528-372418 Cell: 06-49728138
Due date: August 8, 2011
Accompanied by: ir. Willem Smith
[email protected] Tel: 053-4871454 Cell: 06-33748328
Contents Ten geleide ......................................................................................................................................... v Achtergronden................................................................................................................................... vi Afstudeeropdracht............................................................................................................................ vii Producten en planning ..................................................................................................................... viii Afstudeerdoelen ................................................................................................................................ ix Projectgrenzen ................................................................................................................................... x Contactgegevens ............................................................................................................................... xi Kwaliteit ........................................................................................................................................... xii Risico`s ............................................................................................................................................ xiii
Abstract.............................................................................................................................................. 2 Introduction ....................................................................................................................................... 3 Internal analysis ................................................................................................................................. 5 History ............................................................................................................................................ 5 Target group ................................................................................................................................... 6 Structure and Culture ...................................................................................................................... 7 Activities ......................................................................................................................................... 9 Mission, Vision and Values ............................................................................................................ 15 External communication ............................................................................................................... 16 Project management process ........................................................................................................ 17 External analysis .............................................................................................................................. 18 Competition analysis ..................................................................................................................... 18 PEST-Analysis ................................................................................................................................ 20 Political ..................................................................................................................................... 20 Economical ............................................................................................................................... 24 Social ........................................................................................................................................ 25 Technological ............................................................................................................................ 28 Conclusion .................................................................................................................................... 30
SWOT-Analysis ................................................................................................................................. 31 Strength .................................................................................................................................... 32 Weaknesses .............................................................................................................................. 33 Opportunities............................................................................................................................ 34 Threats...................................................................................................................................... 35 Conclusion .................................................................................................................................... 35 SOLL-Situation .................................................................................................................................. 36 Balanced Scorecard ....................................................................................................................... 38 Project lifecycle ............................................................................................................................. 39 Change strategy and recommendations ........................................................................................... 41 Project lifecycle ............................................................................................................................. 42 Balanced Scorecard ....................................................................................................................... 44
Final conclusion and recommendations ........................................................................................... 46 Evaluation ........................................................................................................................................ 47 Literature ......................................................................................................................................... 49 Appendix .......................................................................................................................................... 50 Organisation Structure .................................................................................................................. 50 Project lifecycle current ................................................................................................................ 51 Project lifecycle new ..................................................................................................................... 52 Project Work Order ....................................................................................................................... 53 Balanced Scorecard ....................................................................................................................... 54
Ten geleide Semester 8 van de opleiding Bedrijfskundige Informatica bestaat uit het afstudeerdeel. Tijdens dit afstudeerdeel wordt er van de studente gevraagd een zelfstandige afstudeeropdracht uit te voeren binnen zelf verkozen organisatie. In dit eerste deel van dit rapport is te vinden waar deze afstudeeropdracht uitgevoerd zal worden, wat de afstudeeropdracht behelst en op welke manier deze uitgevoerd zal worden. Dit, in het Romeins becijferde, deel bevat hoofdstukken uit het Plan van Aanpak. Deze delen bevatten noodzakelijke informatie voor het begrip van het gehele afstudeeronderzoek. Graag raad ik u dan ook aan om deze delen eerst te lezen. Na de eindconclusie van de case study "Lightspeed" kunt u de inhoudelijke, procesmatige en persoonlijke evaluatie vinden. Veel leesplezier! Frederik Tetteroo
v
Achtergronden Afstudeerbedrijf Het afstudeerbedrijf waar de afstudeeropdracht gevolgd gaat worden is genaamd Lightspeed Development. Dit bedrijf maakt custom websites gebaseerd op WordPress. Deze websites worden afgeleverd met een gebruikersvriendelijk CMS waarbij de klant uiteindelijk zelf de controle heeft over de inhoud van zijn of haar website. Verder houdt Lightspeed zich bezig met het verder ontwikkelen van WordPress. Binnen het bedrijf wordt Open Source software gepromoot, zo maken zij gebruik van verschillende Google applicaties en voor project management het systeem genaamd Trac. Meer informatie over Lightspeed Development is te vinden op http://lsdev.biz Meer gegevens over de organisatiestructuur van Lightspeed is te vinden in het gedeelte 'Projectorganisatie' in hoofdstuk 6.
Hoofdstukindeling Dit plan van aanpak bestaat uit een aantal hoofdstukken. Elk van deze hoofdstukken zal specifieke informatie bevatten welke gerelateerd is aan de naam van dit hoofdstuk. Hieronder volgt een korte opsomming van de beschreven hoofdstukken en de informatie welke deze bevatten. Hoofdstuknaam Afstudeeropdracht probleemstelling
Onderwerp Wat betreft de afstudeeropdracht, wat is de
Producten
De producten die worden opgeleverd tijdens de afstudeeropdracht
Werkdoelen
De werkdoelen die zijn opgesteld samen met de bedrijfsbegeleider
Projectgrenzen
Welke werkzaamheden worden tijdens de afstudeeropdracht uitgevoerd en welke niet
Projectorganisatie
Gegevens van betrokkenen bij deze afstudeeropdracht
Kwaliteit
Waaraan moeten de producten voldoen
Risico`s
Waardoor zou deze afstudeeropdracht kunnen mislukken
vi
Afstudeeropdracht Probleemstelling De opdracht is ontstaan uit de vraag naar een productievere werkwijze als het gaat om werken met de klant. Op dit moment wordt er hard gewerkt om zoveel mogelijk directe omzet te maken en grote klanten aan te trekken. Er is echter behoefte naar een efficiëntere werkwijze om minder tijd te verliezen aan intern werk. Om hier onderzoek naar te doen en een verbetervoorstel voor op te kunnen leveren, is de opdracht opgedeeld in vier hoofdonderdelen. -
-
-
-
Communicatiekanalen, zowel de interne als ook externe communicatie zal geanalyseerd worden om na te gaan welke communicatiekanalen er gebruikt worden en hoe deze gebruikt worden. Via interviews met de medewerkers kan er een overzicht gemaakt worden van de communicatiestromen en nagegaan worden waar de bottlenecks zich bevinden. Templates, door het analyseren van de templates in de organisatie kan er nagegaan worden of middels standaardisatie of optimalisatie van de huidige methodes er op dit gebied efficiëntieverhoging plaats kan vinden. Bij templates moet er gedacht worden aan projectvoorstellen, interne budget- en ontwikkelingsrapportages, checklists en externe klantrapportages. Interne infrastructuur, om een bedrijfsanalyse te kunnen geven is het van belang dat de infrastructuur in kaart wordt gebracht. Hiervoor moet onderzoek gedaan worden naar de gebruikte systemen maar ook naar de beschikbare human resources, rollen in de organisatie en verantwoordelijkheden. Project management, dit is het hoofdonderdeel van de analyse. Hierbij draait het voornamelijk om de communicatie tijdens de projecten. Rapporteren van werk, documenteren en ondersteuning bieden tijdens het uitvoeren van een project.
Het onderzoek zal beginnen met de opdracht om een analyse van de huidige situatie rondom de communicatie en informatie- uitwisseling uit te voeren en daarbij de knelpunten te bepalen. De knelpunten spelen zich af binnen de vier hiervoor genoemde gebieden. De nadruk zal echter gelegd worden op de volgende knelpunten: -
Klantcommunicatie. Door problemen bij de overdracht tussen klant en ontwerper, vind er veel tijdsverlies plaats en gaat dit ten koste van de efficiëntie. Veel voorkomende problemen zijn onder andere: o Niet juist aanleveren van informatie voor de designer o Niet nakomen van vooraf gestelde deadlines voor de klant o Besluiteloosheid van de klant o “Opleiden” van de klant kost teveel tijd, dit gaat om het gebruik van de opgeleverde online-systemen o Groot verschil tussen kennis en/of inlevingsvermogen aan beide kanten van de deal
Samengevat is er een groot gebrek aan standaardisatie, gezien er nu per klant een ander procedure wordt toegepast. Er wordt terecht vermeldt dat er een gouden combinatie gevonden moet worden tussen opgestelde regels en het tevreden houden van een klant. Deze combinatie zou door onderzoek en het opstellen van een onderzoek/actierapport bereikt kunnen worden. vii
-
Interne communicatie inefficiëntie. Door inefficiëntie binnen de organisatie zelf gaat er veel tijd verloren die niet gefactureerd kan worden. Inefficiëntie vindt plaats binnen de volgende gebieden: o Te gebruiken communicatiekanalen. Door een groot scala aan te gebruiken communicatiekanalen vinden veel conversaties ongestructureerd plaats en gaat hier kostbare informatie verloren o Door de combinatie tussen fysiek aanwezig zijn en op afstand werken is het soms lastig zaken efficiënt te laten verlopen
Uit onderzoek zal worden bepaald of een portaal een mogelijk oplossing is voor de gevonden knelpunten of dat naar een andere oplossing gezocht zou moeten worden. -
Onduidelijkheid over vastgestelde doelen en prestatie-indicatoren. Door inconsistentie binnen het aansturen van medewerkers, bestaat er soms onduidelijkheid als het gaat om welke doelen er bereikt moeten worden en welke prioriteit er gehandhaafd moet worden. Het opstellen van een Balanced Score Card voor de organisatie zal er toe leiden dat het management doelstellingen gaat vastleggen en hiermee kan werken. Dit zorgt eveneens voor meer duidelijkheid onder de werknemers en middels eventuele prestatiebeloningen kan zodoende een hogere kwaliteit van werk gewaarborgd worden.
Gebruikte methoden Voor de onderbouwing van mijn scriptie zal er gebruik gemaakt gaan worden van verscheidene methoden. Hieronder zal ik een overzicht geven van de betreffende methoden en uitleggen waarom ik deze methoden ga gebruiken. Verandermodel Dit model gaat het alomvattende model worden welke gebruikt gaat worden om een raamwerk te bieden voor het gehele onderzoek. Het model is samengesteld door de auteurs van het boek Verandermanagement, Henk Kleijn en Fred Rorink. Dit geïntegreerde model omvat alle onderdelen van een geplande verandering en kan zodoende perfect gebruikt worden voor de ontwikkeling van de uiteindelijk op te leveren veranderstrategie. Verschillende onderdelen/methoden welke deel zijn van dit gehele model zullen hieronder nader worden toegelicht. PEST-analyse PEST-analyse staat voor Politieke, Economische, Sociale en Technologische analyse en beschrijft een kader van macro-omgevingsfactoren welke gebruikt worden om een afspiegeling van de opererende omgeving te geven. Deze factoren zullen verderop in het onderzoek gebruikt gaan worden voor ontwikkeling van de uiteindelijk veranderstrategie. Tevens kunnen de PEST factoren, in combinatie met externe micro-omgevingsfactoren en interne bestuurders, worden aangemerkt als kansen en bedreigingen in een SWOT analyse.
viii
SWOT-analyse Bij een SWOT-analyse (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats) worden de belangrijkste sterke en zwakke punten van een organisatie benoemd, samen met de belangrijkste kansen en bedreigingen. De basis van de SWOT werd gelegd in 1960-1970 door onderzoekers van de Stanforduniversiteit. In dit rapport zal de SWOT-analyse voornamelijk gebruikt gaan worden om de beleidsopties te ontwikkelen welke terugkomen in de balanced scorecard. Balanced Scorecard De balanced scorecard is een methode om een organisatie te managen en te monitoren. Dit gebeurt vanuit vier verschillende gezichtspunten, welke bestaan uit: Financieel, Klant, Interne processen en Innovatie en leren. Deze methode is ontwikkeld door Robert S. Kaplan en David P. Norton en omstreeks 1993 onder de aandacht gebracht van het grote publiek. Een balanced scorecard is eigenlijk niet meer dan een presentatievorm. De echte inhoud is niet af te leiden van welke theorie dan ook. Middels interviews met de manager zal input gewonnen worden voor het daadwerkelijke invullen van dit overzicht. De uiteindelijke essentie van een balanced scorecard is dat beslissingen om een doelstelling te bereiken goed worden onderbouwd en de manager op elk gewenst moment een overzicht heeft van deze vooraf opgestelde doelstellingen.
Producten en planning Hoofdproduct Gezien de focus gelegd gaat worden op de communicatie binnen het projectmanagement, zal het hoofdproduct bestaan uit een vernieuwd en verbeterd projectmanagementproces.
Deelproducten Tijdens de afstudeerperiode worden een aantal producten opgeleverd aan school en de afstudeerbegeleider(bedrijf). Hieronder volgt een lijst van de producten die opgeleverd moeten worden. Het kan zijn dat de afstudeerbegeleider nog een aantal specifieke producten wil zien, bijvoorbeeld projectdocumentatie van een opdracht, deze zijn niet in deze lijst opgenomen. Algemene producten* Product Werkzaamheden Oplevering Afstudeervoorstel Schrijven, overleggen, reviewen 08-04-2011 Thuisbericht Schrijven 21-04-2011 Afstudeerovereenkomst Schrijven, ondertekenen 21-04-2011 Plan van Aanpak Schrijven, overleggen, reviewen 21-04-2011 1e concept afstudeerrapport Schrijven, overleggen, reviewen 06-06-2011 Abstract examenboek Schrijven, overleggen, reviewen 01-07-2011 2e concept afstudeerrapport Schrijven, overleggen, reviewen 22-07-2011 Alumniformulieren Schrijven, overleggen, reviewen 12-08-2011 Definitieve afstudeerscriptie Schrijven, overleggen, reviewen 19-08-2011 Afstudeerpresentatie Maken, voorbereiden, presenteren Nog niet te bepalen *Moment van inleveren product gaat in overleg met afstudeerbegeleider.
ix
Onderzoekspecifieke producten** Product Werkzaamheden Oplevering Interne analyse Schrijven, overleggen, reviewen 02-05-2011 Externe analyse Schrijven, overleggen, reviewen 23-05-2011 SWOT analyse Schrijven, overleggen, reviewen 03-06-2011 SOLL-situatie Schrijven, overleggen, reviewen 20-04-2011 Balanced scorecard Schrijven, overleggen, reviewen 06-06-2011 GAP analyse Schrijven, overleggen, reviewen 27-06-2011 Veranderstrategie Schrijven, overleggen, reviewen 12-07-2011 ** Moment van inleveren product gaat in overleg met bedrijfsbegeleider en afstudeerbegeleider.
Planningsysteem Al deze producten en deadlines worden in het interne planningssysteem vastgelegd. Dit is een Open Source systeem genaamd Trac (http://trac.edgewall.org/) Vanuit het afstudeerbedrijf wordt er verwacht dat dagelijks mijn voortgang gelogd wordt op het project weblog. Dit gebeurt gemiddeld drie keer per dag.
Afstudeerdoelen Bij het afstuderen wordt een afstudeeropdracht uitgevoerd. Bij de afstudeeropdracht ligt het accent op het zelfstandig uitvoeren van een (afgeronde) onderzoek- en/of ontwikkelopdracht die geen routinematig karakter mag hebben. De afstudeeropdracht dient aan te sluiten bij het studieprogramma van de betreffende opleiding en dient systematisch en gestructureerd te worden uitgevoerd met inachtneming van gebruikelijke hulpmiddelen en methoden. Bij het afstuderen is het zelfstandig verwerven en toepassen van (additionele) kennis en vaardigheden een voorwaarde en dient de opdracht door de studenten op de juiste wijze te worden afgebakend. Naast deze vooraf opgestelde afstudeereisen heb ik voor mijzelf enkele persoonlijke doelen opgesteld. Deze doelen zijn: 1) Oriënteren op één of meer beroepen en de beroepspraktijk 2) Toepassen, verbreden en verdiepen van vakkennis 3) Integreren van kennis uit meerdere vakgebieden, rekening houden met andere disciplines (zoals bijvoorbeeld privacywetgeving, ARBO, milieuwetgeving) 4) Ervaren van bedrijfscultuur en de structuur en organisatie van het bedrijf 5) Ontwikkelen van sociale vaardigheden 6) Ontwikkelen van communicatieve vaardigheden (rapporteren en presenteren in het vakgebied) 7) Ontwikkelen van de Engelse taal, zowel mondeling als schriftelijk 8) Ervaren van een nieuwe leef- en bedrijfscultuur in het buitenland (ontwikkelingsland) Met deze werkdoelen en afstudeereisen hoop ik niet alleen maar mijn studie volwaardig af te kunnen sluiten, maar ook mijn kennis te kunnen verijken en een keuze te kunnen maken voor mijn verdere professionele loopbaan.
x
Projectgrenzen Randvoorwaarden Er moeten minstens 15 werknemers fulltime op de werkplek zijn. Bij Lightspeed is dat niet het geval. Er werken hier 10 werknemers fulltime en men beschikt nog over een kleine groep freelancers die regelmatig op de werkvloer verschijnen. Dit gemis is met de examencommissie besproken en goedgekeurd als zijnde eventuele invloedsfactor op de eindbeoordeling. Verder is de bedrijfsbegeleider op voldoende niveau gestudeerd om te voldoen aan de minimale eisen. Op momenten dat de bedrijfsbegeleider niet aanwezig is er altijd wel een andere werknemer beschikbaar voor hulp bij vragen.
Begin-/einddata Het afstudeercontract loopt van 28-03-2011 t/m 22-07-2011. Hierna zal het werken aan de eindscriptie vervolgd worden in Nederland.
Contactgegevens In dit hoofdstuk zijn contactgegevens te vinden van het afstudeerbedrijf, de bedrijfsbegeleider en de stagiair. Gegevens afstudeerbedrijf : Lightspeed Development 46 Devon Street 7925 Woodstock Cape Town Tel: +27 21 448 9843 E-mail:
[email protected] Gegevens bedrijfsbegeleider : Ashley Shaw Tel: +27 21 448 9843 E-mail:
[email protected] Gegevens stagair : Frederik Tetteroo 27 Grimsby Road 8001 Sea Point Cape Town Tel: +27 79 160 4611 E-mail:
[email protected]
xi
Kwaliteit Om er voor te zorgen dat de producten die tijdens het onderzoek worden opgeleverd van voldoende kwaliteit zijn, zullen er voor elk product checklists gemaakt worden met punten waaraan het product moet voldoen. Deze checklists kunnen gebruikt worden bij reviews van de producten die uitgevoerd kunnen worden door bijvoorbeeld de bedrijfsbegeleiding. Er kunnen meerdere reviews plaatsvinden voor een product. Als er na de eerste reviewronde erg veel of grote fouten in het product zitten, worden deze fouten verbeterd en daarna wordt het product nog een keer gereviewed. Voor het uiteindelijk op te leveren eindwerkstuk, wordt voldaan aan de formele eisen zoals deze zijn opgesteld in het Afstudeerreglement 2010-2011V1.0.
xii
Risico`s Tijdens de afstudeerperiode kunnen er allerlei risico's optreden. Hieronder staat een inventarisatie van een aantal risico's met daarbij een actie om deze risico's af te handelen of juist te voorkomen. Risico Slechte begeleiding vanuit het bedrijf of school Onvoldoende kennis
Ziekte
Onduidelijke projectgrenzen
Veranderende eisen van de opdrachtgever
Verschil in cultuur en opvatting
Preventie/Afhandeling Afhandeling: Op tijd overleg plegen met bedrijfsbegeleider, afstudeerbegeleider en eventueel met andere medewerkers hierover praten en een oplossing zoeken. Preventie: Tijd voor studeren in de planning opnemen. Afhandeling: De benodigde kennis verwerven en anders aan bedrijfsbegeleider vragen. Preventie: Taken ruim inplannen, zodat er niet zo snel een achterstand komt bij ziekte of andere vorm van afwezigheid. Afhandeling: Ziek melden bij het afstudeerbedrijf en afstudeerbegeleider op de hoogte stellen. Eventueel thuis werken. Preventie: SMART requirements opstellen. Van tevoren goed bespreken welke werkzaamheden tijdens de afstudeerperiode/projecten uitgevoerd zullen worden. Prioriteiten aan deze werkzaamheden stellen. Afhandeling: Projectgrenzen bespreken met de bedrijfsbegeleider en afstudeerbegeleider en daarna de projectgrenzen bijstellen. Werkzaamheden met een lage prioriteit eventueel niet doen. Preventie: SMART requirements opstellen. Prioriteiten stellen bij onderdelen en activiteiten, zodat onderdelen of activiteiten met een lage prioriteit kunnen vervallen voor een belangrijkere eis van de opdrachtgever. Afhandeling: Met de opdrachtgever vaststellen aan welke eisen nog kan worden voldaan en in de planning passen. Eventuele andere eisen aan het systeem met een lagere prioriteit niet opnemen in het systeem. Afhandeling: Duidelijk communiceren en constant peilen of aan beide kanten de verwachtingen en opvattingen gelijk zijn.
xiii
Case study Lightspeed -- A integrated model for change to improve the project lifecycle and use of organisational goals with a business scorecard --
Abstract Lightspeed began by servicing small and medium-sized businesses’ computer hardware and software requirements in January 2006. Since then Lightspeed re-engineered its strategy and focus majorly. Two major target groups known as Online publishing houses and Small businesses are defined. Lightspeed wants to focus on the expansion and promotion of the network of key players to which it is affiliated in the online industry. The team consists of 10 members excluding temporarily interns . The managerial structure is a three tiered approach where the intention of Lightspeed is to be a flatstructured organisation. Lightspeed`s activities mainly consist of building website packages, where they offer seven different packages. The second biggest activity includes website hosting. Furthermore, additional services such as website support and training are offered to clients. Lightspeed`s mission is to become leading WordPress developer in South Africa where Lightspeed’s vision is: Cultivate strong relationships with its clients in whom it provides them with the right solutions, at the right time and at the right price. Lightspeed uses several client values to emphasise its mission and vision. Following the competitors analysis Ebar Solutions is designated as the main competitor in the field of Whoo-affiliates. Native is designated as the main competitor in the general field of web developers and online services. In occasion of the PEST-analysis potentials on the South African business market are growing rapidly. Political and social developments seem to indicate that managing an organisation will become more attractive and will be better supported by governmental institutions. With the upcoming improved internet infrastructure, South Africa will get more access to the fast paced internet world and therefore more opportunities for Lightspeed to run business. According to the SWOT-analysis Lightspeed will have great opportunities to increase its business and sustain a potential big growth. This is derived from the fact that Lightspeed is making use of a young and dynamic team with strong social media capabilities and a clear focus on what they want to sell to their clients. However, internal systems and strategies could be improved as well as the way of dealing with continuous new ideas and input from anyone in the team. Also Lightspeed should be aware of the value of its employees. It is important to sustain the current approach of treating its employees and important to have a consistent team. With the use of a balanced scorecard Lightspeed will have more guidance when it comes to executing actual business goals. Many ideas are often appointed, but less ideas do get executed. Financial wise, Lightspeed wants to make use of its high profit margin. Therefore, in the balanced scorecard, many key success factors are derived from this financial fact. Also, Lightspeed wants to become a major player on the market of Wordpress. Initiatives for this are related to the social events that Lightspeed is planning to organise. More than that, initiatives are developed from the idea of more structured working and standardisation. This initiative can also be found in the objective to improve the project lifecycle. Therefore, Lightspeed can make use of the new designed project lifecycle where strict sign-off points have to be maintained. Also, new project management documentation must be created in order to give more guidance to the process and the clients involved in the process. Once this is done a project manager should make sure that again everyone in the company is up-to-date and knows what regulations are being used during the process with a client and associated project. 2
Introduction Once the firm has specified its objectives, it begins with its current situation to devise a strategic plan to reach those objectives such as improvement of a project management process. Changes in the external environment often present new opportunities and new ways to reach the objectives. An environmental scan is performed to identify the available opportunities. The firm also must know its own capabilities and limitations in order to select the opportunities that it can pursue with a higher probability of success. The situation analysis therefore involves an analysis of both the external an internal environment. Including the external environment scan also the associated competitors will be analysed. Including the internal environment scan, use of the internal communication will be analysed. Based on this, Lightspeed`s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats will be indentified, as well as the strategic positioning of the current situation. When both, external and internal elements are analysed, the desired situation will be formulated. A Balanced Scorecard will be designed including new organisational goals and improvement actions. After this an appropriate change approach and select methods of intervention will be formulated. Finally, a conclusion and recommendations on the change process will be given. On the next page, the used model for executing this research can be found.
3
1
Figure 1: Integrated model for change
The integrated model for change has been used so far, until the moment of implementation. This report will give guidelines and recommendations on how to change and what realistic targets can be pursued. After this Lightspeed needs time to implement the change strategy where after the implementation will be evaluated and a new loop can be executed. Continuous improvement is the key word in this approach. 1
Ref. to Verandermanagement, Henk Kleijn and Fred Rorink, 2010, a model for planned change. Combined with compilation author
4
Internal analysis History Lightspeed began by servicing small and medium-sized businesses’ computer hardware and software (Windows, Linux and Macintosh) requirements. In January 2006, Lightspeed employed nine people, achieved a turnover of 1.26 million ZAR and a small profit of about 50,000 ZAR. The business was reregistered as a CC and the service offering was expanded to include system maintenance and web services. During the course of 2006 the business’s profit margins steadily began to narrow. The industry experienced a shift where the supply of hardware and support services started to far outweigh the demand, resulting in a cut-throat pricing environment. At this time Ashley began researching alternative IT industries, using his keen interest in and extensive knowledge of the web, Open Source technologies and the SME market as a foundation to move Lightspeed into operating in a new business arena. A shift in the business focus was also a personal goal for Ashley who was seeking to live a more balanced life with a career that afforded him the opportunity to make money from doing something he is passionate about. The concept and name for feedmymedia was born in June 2006. The idea began taking shape at a Geek event where Ashley engaged with innovative and forward-thinking entrepreneurs and specialists working with bleeding edge19 Open Source technologies. Already it was clearly evident that there was massive shift into the social media marketing world for businesses and the tools to achieve this easily, effectively and efficiently became more and more available. In October 2006 feedmymedia.com was registered and the formulation of a business strategy began. In late 2006 Ashley Shaw applied to the Business Place for assistance which was granted in the form of four vouchers awarded over the next 1.5 years. The first, a business administration voucher, aided Lightspeed in compiling a business administration manual. The next voucher was for a due diligence exercise and resulted in the formulation of a business plan as well as information that led to Lightspeed downsizing and shifting its focus. The next voucher was for payroll assistance and the final voucher was for a new business plan that helped establish the basis for this plan. In late 2007 Lightspeed entered the social media web development market. As of 1st September 2007 Lightspeed no longer provided support services and the team was down sized. Ashley ensured that he was actively involved in assisting his ex-employees in pursuing other employment opportunities. In 2008 Lightspeed continued with a two-man formation, Warwick and Ashley and joined by one free lancer Nielo. Lightspeed re-engineered its strategy and focus. The trends which Ashley had been witnessing on the growing and dynamic internet market were included in its focus. During this period Lightspeed had two interns Stephan and Mart. Both wrote thesis on the company and helped to develop a new strategy.
5
In 2009 Lightspeed started to increase its turnover radically. The company recruited new employees and expanded on all fronts. During this period Lightspeed had three interns, Frank, Linda and Pieter. The interns developed an HR-plan and another two business plans. They helped with a lot of marketing and recruitment research. Ashley also started with a business development program named Velociti with his own business mentor. In the beginning of 2010, Lightspeed won the Velociti business development program, which is specially designed for IT entrepreneurs. Lightspeed started to expand their human resources and now in 2011 exists of a team of 11 members. A variety of website development and related services are provided by the core team. Based on the extensive skills it allows Lightspeed to complete a number of simple to complex website projects concurrently, from smaller scale start-ups to large scale digital publishing platforms and social networks, all the way through to e-Commerce.
Target group For Lightspeed we define two major target groups known as Online publishing houses and Small businesses. Approximately 60,000 formal businesses compete in Cape Town for clients, with 2,000 of these based in the ICT sector. In the fourth quarter of 2010 the real gross domestic product at market prices increased by 4,4% quarter-on-quarter, seasonally adjusted and annualized2. Analysts predict a growth in SA’s GDP of between 4.5 and 6% over the next few years. The ICT sector is in a period of increasing activity in the world of Web 2.0 - specifically blog, community and wiki management services, as well as the advent of online social media marketing and related business opportunities. More and more businesses and private individuals are discovering the benefits of using, contributing to and publishing with these online platforms. Lightspeed has an existing client base due to being in business for almost 8 years. The client database is in excess of 300 businesses. Word-of-mouth references are the best source of new business, so Lightspeed believes if they do focus on tailored marketing to this existing client database they can generate leads themselves. The global user base for WordPress and their subsidiary software, it is currently sitting on a number of 19 million WordPress.com sites, where 298 million people view more than 2.5 billion pages each month3; Lightspeed understands that these figures indicate the user base and not the client base. The point is that the number of users increases on a daily basis. The target market is growing as the popularity of the software grows.
Target Market The local online market has been growing consistently over the last few years and is predicated to enter a boom period. Revolution of the social internet has captured the attention of both private users as well as businesses who are interested in trying out these new technologies. That is why
2
Ref. to Statistics South Africa: Key findings for the fourth quarter of 2010, http://www.statssa.gov.za/PublicationsHTML/P04414thQuarter2010/html/P04414thQuarter2010.html , 2011-02-22 3 Ref. to Statistics WordPress.com, http://en.wordpress.com/stats/ , 2011-04-19
6
Lightspeed wants to focus on the expansion and promotion of the network of key players to which it is affiliated in the online industry. Type -- Small to medium businesses and Online publishing houses Sector -- Private Geographic variables -- Region of the world or country - South Africa, Western Cape, Cape Town (branch out after saturation point reached in Cape Town) Age -- 25-50 (Based on the awareness of the power of social networks) Sex -- Male & Female Occupation -- Business owner / Manager / business decision maker / financial director / project managers / technical officers Language -- English / Afrikaans Product usage rate -- Life-long relationship Partners Lightspeed works closely together with some companies in type of a partner network. Each of them is specialized in a certain niche market, and customers with certain requirements can be referred to the relevant partner if the need arises. Partners work hand-in-hand and promote each other. Affiliates Lightspeed works also with affiliates. These are companies which send visitors to the website. These actively refer customers to Lightspeed. Generally these are businesses positioned in a similar industry to Lightspeed, but offering different products and services. Users of the software People who are already users of the software are also very helpful for Lightspeed. They often need a professional to update their knowledge and they give good word-of-mouth references to new potential clients.
Structure and Culture Lightspeed's team consists of the following members:
Ashley Shaw - Founder and strategist Warwick Booth - Lead Developer Barbara Kerr-Shaw - Project Manager Joe Ashburner - Information Architect Ignatius Vermaak - Content Manager Barend Potgieter - Business Blogger Donavan Costarus - WordPress Designer Chris Wingfield - Senior Designer Chris Vancoillie - Systems Engineer Iain Coughtrie - WordPress Designer Dutch Interns - 2-3 Interns join the company every 6 months to do market research, development, process development and much more....
7
Culture and internal communication The managerial structure is a three tiered approach - Ashley is the creative director and visionary with the experience to boot, handling client meetings, communications, and other leadership roles. Barbara has over 10 years experience in managerial roles and deals with operations management, accounts as well as project management and client communication on less technical projects. Joe deals predominately with client communication on mid to high level projects under the guidance of Ashley as well as team management and Scrum Master responsibilities. The intention of Lightspeed is to be a flat-structured organisation. Every employer has the same rights to contribute to the company. No complicated bureaucratic rules are applied to the organisational structure, which will encourage the input from every individual. However, on a daily base there is a certain hierarchy where Ashley is on top of the organisation where he will make the rules and will direct his employees. Through regular team meetings such as the summer braai4 and other social events, Ashley encourages the employees to get involved with every event, which improves the internal communication greatly. Lightspeed has adopted the Scrum5 methodology in handling project management, an agile software development process. The primary tools are as follows: The Project Blog This is a frontend blogging/discussion platform that from which the scrum methodology is implemented. Daily “Scrum” plans are posted by individual team members before 9 AM every morning. Progress throughout the day is added to “Scrum” posts by team members throughout the day so that progress can be monitored, and this platform is also used for open discussion between team members as well as for sharing useful resources. The project blog utilizes the P2 Theme6, the same theme used by Matt Mullenweg and Automatic during development of WordPress and other software.Work is allocated in work interims, known as “sprints”, and team plans for these interims are worked out every two weeks during a sprint planning meeting and retrospective where the team will get together to plan, brainstorm, and review the previous two weeks worth of work, all of which is then logged on the project blog. TRAC Trac7 is an enhanced wiki and issue tracking system used to keep track of project budgets, allocated work internally, and for sharing project briefs, and recording progress and tasks completed by all team members. Every team member has a Trac user that can be assigned “tickets” which are used to track both entire projects and individual tasks, as well as contract work and client retainers. Similarly as above, Trac is also the same system used by Automatic in their development of WordPress itself, although our methods and systems vary quite substantially from its traditional use. Lightspeed`s Trac methodology has been refined and improved over close to 2 years in order to provide a successful model for tracking project budgets and integrating the system successfully within the Scrum methodology.
4
South African BBQ Ref. to Scrum project methodology, http://scrummethodology.com/ , 2009-01-06 6 Ref. to P2 theme WordPress, http://p2theme.com/ 7 Ref. to Trac open source project, http://trac.edgewall.org/, 2011-01 5
8
Google Docs8 Lightspeed uses Google docs internally for tasks such as specking new projects and breaking down project briefs, keeping track of contract and retainer work in combination with Trac, as well as for communications with clients on project briefs and as a platform for collaborating with clients in order to keep track of requests, mails, bugs and more. The flexibility and collaborative elements available via Google docs makes it an ideal tool for both internal and external use. Google Chat9 Used strictly for internal team communication online. ------------See Appendix 1 for the organisational structure of Lightspeed. -------------
Activities In this section I will give a description of the services and products Lightspeed is offering. This will contain everything related to the core activities of the business.
Packages The website packages provide the building blocks for the web development services. Each framework package comes with a set of standard features which can then be built on via a set of available and highly extensible Add-on Modules which can be modified to meet the client needs. The core package offering is the Business Package which provides the fundamental set of features that allows websites to live up to the standards Lightspeed is setting for their clients. Business Package The Business Package can be thought of as one of the most basic “framework” packages. Its features are incorporated into every single website that Lightspeed is building (with the exception of single page websites) and it provides the “development framework” from which the rest of the site can be built. Additional prebuilt “add-on” modules are used in order to build on this framework, for example a design module for custom design, or a video gallery module for a video gallery solution. Additionally there is also the potential for entirely new modules based on unique client needs. Following a list of some of the standard features included in the Business Package: 8 9
Standalone Demo Site - Creation & setup in WordPress (including user setups) WordPress Theme installation and setup Theme = Canvas development framework “child theme” SEO: Sitemap, robots, meta for home page + keywords (Meta data – title/description/keywords - required from client ) WordPress backend setup Page Templates setup Widgets and sidebars Content loading for up to 10 pages
Ref. to Google docs, https://docs.google.com/ Ref. to Google talk, http://www.google.com/talk/
9
Social Media Sharing options and FB like on all posts Built-in Mobile device compatibility with Wptouch Pro plug-in Flexible and powerful forms ( Gravity Forms premium) Breadcrumbs & Pagination site wide Deployment – Code deployments, demo site setup and launch of live site Semantic Mark up and W3 Transitional Code Website Analytics & Statistics (Google Analytics) Systems Admin – Code deployments, demo site setup and live launch Training Documentation - WordPress training documentation + support site access
Community Package The framework of the community package includes all of the standard features of the Business Package as well as a BuddyPress10 social networking module for transforming a site into a fully functional social network: Additional features:11
Activity Streams - Global, personal and group activity streams with threaded commenting, direct posting, favoriting and @mentions. All with full RSS feed and email notification support. Friend Connections - Let your users make connections so they can track the activity of others, or filter on only those users they care about the most. WordPress Blogging - Start a blog built on the best blogging software in the world. Even allow each of your users to start their own full powered WordPress blog. Track new posts and comments across your site. Discussion Forums - Full powered discussion forums built directly into groups allow for more conventional in-depth conversations. Extended Profiles - Fully editable profile fields allow you to define the fields users can fill in to describe themselves. Tailor profile fields to suit your audience. Private Messaging - Private messaging will allow your users to talk to each other directly, and in private. Not just limited to one on one discussions, your users can send messages to multiple recipients. Extensible Groups - Powerful public, private or hidden groups allow your users to break the discussion down into specific topics. Extend groups with your own custom features using the group extension API.
Online Publisher Package The online publisher package provides an all in one online publishing solution and social network aimed at high profile publishers looking for an all out solution for their digital presence. By combining all of the features of our standard Business Package & our Community Package, along with a host of additional features listed below, this package provides the ultimate website framework for the newage digital publisher.
10 11
Ref. to BuddyPress, http://buddypress.org/ , 2011 Ref. to website Lightspeed, http://lsdev.biz , 2011
10
Additional features:
Subscribe/Sign-up Widget + custom branding Login widget Magazine slider (dynamic featured slider content) Category specific widgets for homepage (dynamic featured content) Featured video widget Polls (editable via WordPress CMS) Quizzes (editable via WordPress CMS) Facebook fan page like widget Twitter feed widget Editable campaign widgets Recently Active Members Newsletter subscription widget
eCommerce Package The framework eCommerce package includes all of the features of the business package as well as an additional product catalogue module to allow for the online purchase of goods on a clients website. It contains the following features:
Search Engine Optimized products display Highly cost effective retailing platform A multitude of e-Marketing services available for marketing your products Easy to use interface and product management Dynamic Shopping Cart + Checkout Pages Professional design & branding Utilize our Conversion Optimization services to convert traffic into customers
Mobile Package All websites developed by Lightspeed come with built-in mobile device compatibility through the use of WPTouchpro12. Lightspeed is also offering customized mobile websites using the WPTouch theming framework. WPtouch automatically transforms a WordPress website into a fast, userfriendly and stylish touch-based Smartphone application-style theme. Smart phones (Mobile devices) currently supported include:
iPhone 4, iPhone 3GS, iPhone 3G, iPhone 2G iPod touch (all generations) Blackberry Storm 9550, 9530, 9520, 9500 Blackberry Torch Palm Pre, Pixi Most Android devices
Mobile Development Package Features:
12
Ref. to WordPress Plugin, http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/wptouch/ , 2011-04-26
11
Media Ready Theme Custom Settings and Navigation Interactivity Custom Integration with BuddyPress Mobile Specific Sections AJAX and HTML5 technologies Child Themes WordPress 3.0 Custom Menus Adsense and Admob integration – generate revenue from mobile advertising Mobile Strategy - based on traffic, stats and user requirement assessments
Single Page Package The Single Page Package is designed as an entry level solution for clients who require a cost effective “brochure” style online presence. A Single Page Website is a website that displays all content on its one and only page, the Home Page. Navigation between content areas is done through the use of HTML A-tags linking to bookmarks on the same page instead of other pages. This enables Lightspeed to create stylish minimalist designs with innovative navigation. Below are the key features represented by Lightspeed` Single Page Package:
Perfect starting point for growing a online presence Premium Designs to choose from Social Media Connectivity for promoting a site SEO optimized for increased site traffic Standard Page Templates available Premium WordPress Hosting
Content Packages Content is King. However simply having killer content is not enough. For web content to be as effective as it is informative it has to be Search Engine Optimized and formatted for the Web browsing user. Content Optimization Package: With Lightspeed’s Content Optimization Package we will rewrite and reformat your content for the web in order to more effectively achieve your business goals and use the best tools, such as ScribeSEO13 and WebCEO14 to fully optimize the content of a website. Features:
10 pages of content to be rewritten and optimized for web purpose Optimize Meta data ScribeSEO will be used with each page of content
Content Assessment Package: Lightspeed offers the Content Assessment Package to assess the existing content situation and 13 14
Ref. to ScribeSEO, http://scribeseo.com/ , 2011 Ref. to WebCEO, http://www.webceo.com/ , 2011
12
provide clients with a detailed report and recommendation on how to improve a website content to better achieve their business goals. Features:
Content Inventory Document Analytics review Keyword Analysis Report
Content Management Package: Lightspeed offers a once off Content Management and Strategy package that optimizes existing content and gives the client the tools to manage their own content successfully. Powerful Analytics gives you rich insights into your website traffic and marketing effectiveness, and thorough documentation keeps you on track when creating and publishing future web content. Features: 1. Content Audit (of existing website content)
Content Inventory Document
2. Content Analysis
Google Analytics review, Identification of conversion goals and weak areas in content/SEO Keyword Analysis Link building Competitor Analysis
3. Content Strategy
Content Strategy Document Style guide Publishing Schedule and Workflow documentation Sitemap Page Templates Page Tables/Content Requirement Table
4. Analytics
Set up of Google Analytics account Enabling Google Analytics Tracking code on all Pages Goal setting: Setting goals to be tracked within Google Analytics, helping you stay on top of your web content and enabling you to review what is working for you and identify the areas for improvement going forward Setting up of KPI’s
5. Optimization
13
Optimization of 10 existing pages of web content with the use of Scribe SEO Metadata
Website Hosting As touched on above in, website hosting on our own specialist servers are additional services provided by Lightspeed. Our hosting infrastructure is specifically geared towards WordPress hosting and has been refined and improved for over a period of over 18 months. Upgrades and improvements are continuously being made to our servers in order to provide optimal service to our hosting clients and ensure we are using the latest and greatest hosting technology.
Additional Services In addition to the above described products and services, there are more services Lightspeed is offering.
Website Support – Lightspeed is offering various support services to their clients, including monthly retainer support packages as well as D.I.Y support options such as a knowledge base tutorial site and video tutorials site. WordPress Training – Lightspeed is offering hands on content management workshops that will teach content managers how to manage content WordPress sites, tools for using their CMS, SEO tips, and more. Content Migration – Lightspeed is offering full content migration services from a clients` existing content management system to WordPress Site Reviews – Lightspeed is offering a high-level review of a WordPress installation with a focus on diagnosing pain points and usability issues, bugs, design flaws, and more. Security & Performance Review - Lightspeed is offering a full security and performance review for WordPress sites including plug-in code review and certification, theme code review for security and performance, quarterly verifications of a entire WordPress site, and active site monitoring and vulnerability detection Server Scalability Assistance – Lightspeed is offering server infrastructure setup assistance and best practice advice around server configuration, caching, and load balancing as it relates to running WordPress Upgrades - WordPress point release upgrade testing and certification
14
Mission, Vision, Values In this section, I will give a short description of the main vision and mission with the most important values Lightspeed is working for.
Mission Lightspeed`s mission is to become leading WordPress developer in South Africa.
Vision Lightspeed’s vision is to “cultivate strong relationships with its clients in whom it provides them with the right solutions, at the right time and at the right price”.
Client Values Lightspeed prides itself on treating its clients as business allies, giving them the loyalty of a business partner who cares about their business, as well as the cost effectiveness of their solution. The key client focus areas can be summarized as follows:
To be efficient in our dealings with our clients To maintain honest and open communication channels with our clients where they feel comfortable to approach us with their issues To provide excellent customer service that encourages our clients to return to us for work time after time To treat our clients with respect and empathy To maintain good references and excellent customer relations To accept responsibility for the actions we take as well as for the work we perform To be professional when dealing with our clients and suppliers
15
External communication In this chapter I will give a description of the external communication of Lightspeed, such as the use of their communication tools and the use of formats and their house style.
Communication tools To communicate with potential clients, Lightspeed mainly uses the corporate website http://lsdev.biz. The website will give broad information about the services and products Lightspeed is offering, information about the team, their work portfolio and a blog with posts about the latest trends in the web-development world. Furthermore, Lightspeed is making use of strong social media profiles. The company has created many social media profiles and is updating its profile regular. Each profile is tailored according to its specific target group and associated online target group. Photo streams such as the work portfolio have been uploaded to Flickr and are connected to Twitter and Facebook for regular status updates. With its active social media behaviour, Lightspeed is building up a strong and big network of social contacts and potential business leads. As the content of social media updates are properly described and tagged in a search engine and social media optimization way, the chance for this content to be found by readers and potential clients will be increased. Besides the internet communication channels, Lightspeed is using local advertisement such as the use of business cards and mouth to mouth advertising to promote their business. Ashley tries to attend to as many as possible business and IT community events as possible to spread the name and connect with people from the same business.
House style One of the biggest challenges for Lightspeed at the moment, when it comes to marketing, is the development of their own house style. Many formats are being created for any process in the business, but still not properly being applied. The corporate website has been redeveloped several times now. In general templates are being used with big clients and projects, when it is busy they sometimes forget to think about formalities.
16
Project management process To set up and execute projects, Lightspeed is using a project lifecycle document. The lifecycle is divided into several phases where a client has to sign off each phase before continuing the next phase. Furthermore, by making use of dependencies, Lightspeed can make sure that client expectations can be met and the complete process is transparent and manageable. The project lifecycle consists of 27 steps with almost each step having a dependency for continuing to the next step. Because this is a relatively complex and detailed document, the document is hardly used. The project manager mentioned during one of the interviews that keeping track of a project shouldn`t affect time management in a bad way. To implement security phases in to the process, Lightspeed wants the client to sign of each phase before continuing the next phase. Because of many ambitions and innovative ideas from the manager, Lightspeed is still developing the perfect way of setting up and keeping track of projects. Roles in the company are defined but are not strictly being applied. Therefore the project management process is being influenced by too many ideas and point of views. Also, with developing a new project management process, Lightspeed should be aware of implementing the process by giving clear instructions on how to use the process again with a clear role definition and responsibilities. ------------See Appendix 2 for the current project lifecycle of Lightspeed.
17
External analysis Competition analysis The internet gives enterprises the opportunity to hire web-developers from all over the world. Resulting into the fact that even small web-development firms have to cope with global competition. To analyse the competitors I mainly used the portfolio and testimonials because these sections usually provide more details concerning the value of the brand. While some of the competitors offer a wide range of products and service solutions, others specialise in certain niche markets (e.g. Woo themes). They have been analysed, categorised/labelled, ranked, and based on the information provided by their web pages as well as personal perceptions as well as information provided by the employees of Lightspeed. In the following a top 5 of the niche market competitors and a top 5 of the general competitors. Woo Theme Competitors Name Sprout Venture
Cubicle Ninjas
We-Design
Southernmedia
Ebar solution
Description Nice and simple one-man team. Simple but strong and professional looking website. Good looking portfolio with various projects in various expertise fields. Has questionnaire on website for free estimate (in 24h). Website: http://www.sproutventure.com/ Design and illustrator company with big clients such as IBM, American Express and FedEx. Very good looking website with impressive portfolio, but out of the real competitors range. Website: http://www.cubicleninjas.com/ Professional and good looking website. Small internal team consisting of 3 people and 4 external employees. Impressive portfolio, very clean with outstanding design work. Especially corporate website makes company looking really decent and trustworthy. Website: http://www.we-design.it/ Professional looking corporate website. Very nice use of coloured design, fresh looking, simple and effective. Little text on the website, but inviting to request more information about their services. Portfolio mainly web design, HTML/CSS projects. Website: http://southernmedia.net/ Design, marketing and social media services provider. Well informed about providing services and packages. There is a very good questionnaire on the website with a possibility for a free demo. Portfolio looks decent with some good blog and social media designs. Website: http://www.ebarsolutions.com/
Rank
8/10
6/10
6/10
7/10
9/10
15
Table 1 Woo Themes Competitors selection Lightspeed 2011
15
Authors compilation
18
General Competitors Name Isobar
Native
Bardinellis
Yellow-llama
Quirk
Label Isobar is a full service digital agency offering an integrated spectrum of digital marketing services including: Digital Strategy, Digital Media, Search, Application Development Social Media, and Creative & Digital Production across mobile and fixed line internet. With a digital agency network, represented in 54 countries Isobar has an impressive client list and is therefore not a real competitor to Lightspeed. Website: http://www.isobar.co.za/ Native is the result of a merger between three agencies that have made their mark on South Africa’s digital landscape: Cambrient, Brandsh and Stonewall+. Native is a full service digital agency with services in the field of Technology, Design, Media, Analytics, Strategy and Concept. Because of the large scale and the combined specialities, Native will become a major competitor and contract purchaser. Website: http://www.themakingofnative.co.za/ Bardinellis is a freelance web designer who specializes in design of WordPress websites and blogs. Located in Cape Town, therefore Bardinellis is a very local competitor. Also, Bardinellis provides WordPress training and consultation. The design of the corporate website is plainly and doesn`t really represents outstanding design skills. Information provided on the website is well defined and useful. The portfolio looks decent and for a one-man team well designed. Website: http://www.bardinellis.co.za/ Yellow-llama another one-man team web design company specialized in WordPress and also Adobe Community Expert. The main skill set lies in the development, tweaking, hybridizing and creation of custom WordPress websites. The portfolio looks really decent as well as the offered skills with an explanation of the service with an indication of the costs. The blog section on the website is up-to-date and serves the community with different topics, mostly not related to the core service though. Website: http://www.yellow-llama.com/ Quirk has grown from a one man agency to an international business with headquarters in Cape Town, Johannesburg and London. Quirk is offering 9 primary services related to anything to do with eMarketing. With about 80 employees and very big clients such as Google, Virgin active and Warner Bros Pictures, Quirk can be seen as a competitor but mainly as potential contract provider. Website: http://www.quirk.biz/
Rank
5/10
9/10
9/10
9/10
6/10
16
Table 2: General Competitors selection Lightspeed 2011
16
Authors compilation
19
PEST-Analysis A scan of the external macro-environment in which Lightspeed operates can be expressed in terms of the following factors: Political, Economic, Social and Technological. The acronym PEST is used to describe a framework for the analysis of these macro environmental factors. To give a more substantiated description of Lightspeed, in the following commentary Lightspeed`s business environment will be analysed based on this PEST-framework.
Political analysis South Africa has a vibrant multiparty political system, with 13 parties represented in the National Assembly of Parliament. The African National Congress (ANC) is the majority party, with 264 of the 400 National Assembly seats. The party also controls eight of the country's nine provinces, with the exception of the Western Cape, where the Democratic Alliance won the majority in the 2009 elections. The ANC also controls five of the six metropolitan municipalities. Nonetheless, South Africa's opposition parties remain robust and vocal. South Africa's Parliament is made up of two houses: the National Assembly and the National Council of Provinces. The National Assembly is the more influential, passing legislation and overseeing executive performance. Its members are elected for a term of five years. Following a list of the 13 parties represented in the National Assembly of Parliament:17
African National Congress Democratic Alliance Congress of the People Inkatha Freedom Party Independent Democrats United Democratic Movement Freedom Front Plus African Christian Democratic Party United Christian Democratic Party Pan Africanist Congress Minority Front Azanian People's Organisation African People's Convention
In the next chapter I will give some more details about the four most important political parties.
17
Ref. to South Africa`s political parties, South Africa`s nation assembly http://www.southafrica.info/about/democracy/polparties.htm , unknown
20
African National Congress (ANC) 264 seats in the National Assembly The South African Native National Congress was founded in 1912 with the aim of bringing Africans together to defend their rights and fight for freedom. In 1923 its name was changed to the African National Congress (ANC). Following the 1960 Sharpeville massacre, the party was banned by the Nationalist government. From 1961 organised acts of sabotage began, marking the emergence of Umkhonto we Sizwe, the armed wing of the ANC. The ANC was to be an underground and exiled organisation for the next 30 years. In February 1990, the government unbanned the ANC and released Nelson Mandela and other political prisoners. The ANC was again able to openly recruit members and establish regional structures. In the historic 1994 elections the ANC won 62% of the vote. Nelson Mandela became South Africa's first democratically elected president. In the 1999 elections the party increased its majority to a point short of two-thirds of the total vote. A two-thirds majority theoretically allows a party to change the country's Constitution. Thabo Mbeki succeeded Mandela as President of the country. ANC policy is to increase economic growth and reduce poverty. The Freedom Charter remains the party's basic policy document. Adopted in June 1955 by the ANC and its allies, the charter lists principles upon which a democratic South Africa should be built. In 1994 the ANC adopted the Reconstruction and Development Programme (RDP) as a policy framework to guide it in transforming South Africa from a divided society to one that provides equal opportunities for all its citizens. The four main principles of the RDP are:
meeting the people's basic needs, such as housing, water and electricity; developing the country's human resources; building the economy democratising state institutions and society.
In 1996 the ANC adopted the Growth, Employment and Redistribution macroeconomic strategy, or Gear. This is a strategy for rebuilding and restructuring the economy in line with the main principles of the RDP. In the 2004 elections the party retained its two-thirds majority (69.7%), but lost it in the 2009 elections, when its majority fell to 64.9%, and Jacob Zuma became the country's President.
21
Democratic Alliance (DA) 67 seats in the National Assembly South Africa's official opposition party, the Democratic Alliance, formerly known as the Democratic Party (DP), espouses liberal democracy and free market principles. The party's forerunner was the Progressive Federal Party (PFP), whose veteran politician Helen Suzman was its only representative in the white Parliament for many years. Suzman upheld liberal policies in the apartheid-era legislature and spoke out against apartheid laws. In the 1980s the party increased its Parliamentary seats to seven. Among the new MPs was Tony Leon, who became DP leader in 1996, introducing a more aggressive approach to opposition politics. In 2000 the DP joined forces with the New Nationalist Party to form the Democratic Alliance (DA). But the NNP withdrew from the pact in late 2001, and was disbanded in 2004. Leon resigned as party head in 2007, to be replaced by Helen Zille. The DA increased its share of the vote from 1.7% in 1994 to about 10% in 1999 (as the former DP), 12.4% in 2004 and 16.6% in 2009. The DA seeks to promote:
a prosperous, open-opportunity society in which every person is free and equal before the law; a spirit of mutual respect, inclusivity and participation among the diverse people of South Africa; a free enterprise economy driven by choices, risks and hard work; a vigorous, critical and effective opposition that is loyal to the constitutional order and promotes the well-being of the country.
Congress of the People (Cope) 30 seats in the National Assembly The Congress of the People (Cope) is a new party that contested its first in April 2009, winning 7.42% of the vote. It was formed by breakaway ANC members dissatisfied with that organisation's decision to "recall" then-President Thabo Mbeki in September 2008 and replace him with Kgalema Motlanthe. Cope was launched in at the November Convention held in Johannesburg in 2008. Its prominent founding members include Mosiuoa Lekota, the former minister of defence who resigned from the Cabinet after Mbeki stepped down, as well as former Gauteng Premier Mbhazima Shilowa, former Congress of South African Trade Unions president Willie Madisha, and Barney Pityana, the vicechancellor and principal of the University of South Africa. At the November Convention, Cope adopted the following principles in its declaration:
Supremacy of the Constitution. Building social cohesion based on values we can all defend. Freedom and equality before the law. Participatory democracy.
22
Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) 18 seats in the National Assembly The Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP), led by Mangosuthu Buthelezi, draws its support largely from Zuluspeaking South Africans. Its strongholds are the rural areas of KwaZulu-Natal and the migrant workers' hostels in the metropolitan areas of Gauteng. Buthelezi has led the IFP since he founded it as the Inkatha National Cultural Liberation Movement in 1975. His political career dates back to the 1940s, when he joined the ANC Youth League while studying at Fort Hare University. In 1953 he took up a position as chief of the Buthelezi clan, and in 1970 was appointed head of the KwaZulu Territorial Authority in terms of the apartheid-era Bantu Administration Act. He became the homeland's chief minister in 1976. Inkatha was transformed into a political party in July 1990, championing federalism as the best political option for South Africa. The IFP supports the government's Gear macroeconomic strategy, but argues that it has been introduced in too tentative and piecemeal a manner. The party argues for revitalising the economy through a "re-prioritisation" of economic policy, based on four pillars:
attracting increased levels of direct fixed investment; facilitating the competitive development of business in South Africa; managing the high expectations and demand for social delivery; and introducing more cost-effective fiscal management in government.
The IFP also believes in integrating traditional leadership into the system of governance by recognising traditional communities as models of societal organisation. Buthelezi heads KwaZuluNatal's House of Traditional Leaders, which advises the government on issues relating to traditional leaders. Conclusion Despite the unstable political situation, Lightspeed has an advantage of being located in the Western Cape. With the DA in charge, a free enterprise economy driven by choices, risks and hard work will be promoted. This gives Lightspeed freedom to expand themselves and invest in areas of their own choice. More than that, we can state that the DA is in general a more progressive party which means that in the Western Cape the voters are progressive minded and therefore a good market for Lightspeed`s products.
23
Economical analysis After many years of sustained growth, South Africa`s economy fell into recession with GDP contracting by 1.8% in 2009. It started already in 2008 with the weakening of domestic demand and worsened when the global crisis hit in which resulted in a sharp fall in exports. The latest data shows that the growth slightly recovered gradually to 2.4% in 2010, helped by the recovery of global demand and the boost of the FIFA World Cup. Expectations are that the growth will continue in 2011 to 3.3%. 18
Real GDP Growth and Per Capita GDP 12000
6,0% 5,0%
10000
4,0%
8000
3,0% 2,0%
6000
1,0%
4000
0,0% -1,0%
2000
-2,0%
0
-3,0% 2001
2002
2003
2004
2005
2006
2007
2008
2009
2010
2011
GDP Per Capita (PPP in US $)
Southern Africa - GDP Per Capita (PPP in US $)
Africa - GDP Per Capita ($ PPP)
Real GDP Growth (%)
Figure 2: Real GDP Growth and Per Capita GDP South Africa
The manufacturing and mining sector was slowed by as a result of lower exports and agriculture contracted because of adverse climatic conditions. The only two sectors that showed sustained growth were construction and internet and communication technology, the first one boosted by a public investment and both due the international attraction of the FIFA World Cup. Because of its macroeconomic policies, South Africa was one of the few African countries that implemented a strong and coordinated countercyclical fiscal and monetary policy. Due weak demand and the appreciation of the currency inflation reduced from its peak of 11.5% in 2008 to 7.1% in 2009. Sharp increases in electricity prices and wage costs prevented a further decline of inflation into the target range of 3-6%. Inflation in 2010 reached a new record of 3.7%. The actual inflation number is 4.1% and expected will be that in the coming years the main policy challenge will be to strike a good balance between fostering growth, while preserving fiscal sustainability and keeping the low inflation.
18
Ref. to African Economic Outlook; South Africa http://www.africaneconomicoutlook.org/en/countries/southern-africa/south-africa/ , 2011-04-08
24
South Africa`s economic progress still will be shadowed by all the structural challenges such as the deficiencies in public transport, energy, telephone and internet infrastructure. Public service delivery, also a severe bottleneck to growth, has proven inadequate in a period of severe economic distress and has led to significant social discontent. Although, public resource mobilisation has improved, as shown by the rising number of registered taxpayers (individuals and corporations).Simplification of the tax code and filing procedures will improve professionalism in the business sector and strengthen auditing in sectors where evasion still is widespread. Concluded we can state that there is positive information on the current and future economic status of South Africa and therefore also for Lightspeed. With a rising GDP and resources and labour still being relatively cheap, South Africa is forming an attractive target market.
Social analysis The social status of South Africa is changing due international influences and the Internet evolution. More and more people are getting online every day which results into a more open minded and better educated society. The population number currently is estimated at about 50 million people. The Black Africans are in the majority (39,68 million) and constitute just more than 79% of the total South African population. The white population is estimated at 4,58 million, the coloured population at 4,42 million and the Indian/Asian population at 1,30 million. Fifty-one per cent (25,66 million) of the population is female. 19
Population group African Coloured Indian/Asia n White Total
Number
Male % of total population
Female Number % of total population
Number
Total Percentage of total population
19 314 500 2 124 900 646 600
79,4% 8,7% 2,7%
20 368 100 2 299 200 653 300
79,4% 9,0% 2,5%
39 682 600 4 424 100 1 299 900
79,4% 8,8% 2,6%
2 243 000 24 329 000
9,2% 100,0%
2 341 700 25 662 300
9,1% 100,0%
4 584 700 49 991 300
9,2% 100,0%
20
Table 3: Mid-year population estimates for South Africa by population group and sex, 2010
South Africa's National Qualifications Framework (NQF) recognizes three broad bands of education:21
General Education and Training Further Education and Training Higher Education and Training
19
Ref. to Mid-year population estimates 2010, Statistics South Africa http://www.statssa.gov.za/publications/p0302/p03022006.pdf , 2010-07-20 20 Ref. to Mid-year population estimates 2010, Statistics South Africa and compiled by Author http://www.statssa.gov.za/publications/p0302/p03022006.pdf , 2010-07-20 21 Ref. to South Africa: fast facts, Education http://www.southafrica.info/about/facts.htm
25
Under the South African Schools Act of 1996, education is compulsory for all South Africans from the age of seven (grade 1) to age 15, or the completion of grade 9. General Education and Training also includes Adult Basic Education and Training. According to the latest available statistics, in 2007 South Africa had 14 167 086 pupils and students enrolled in all sectors of the education system, attending 35 231 educational institutions and served by 452 971 teachers and lecturers. South Africa has a vibrant higher education sector, with close on a million students enrolled in the country's 21 state-funded tertiary institutions: 11 universities, five universities of technology, and five comprehensive institutions. At about 5.3% of gross domestic product (GDP) and 20% of total state expenditure, South Africa has one of the highest rates of public investment in education in the world. South Africa is a multilingual country. The country's democratic Constitution, which came into effect on 4 February 1997, recognizes 11 official languages, to which it guarantees equal status. These are:
South African Languages Language Afrikaans English IsiNdebele IsiXhosa IsiZulu Sesotho sa Leboa Sesotho Setswana SiSwati Tshivenda Xitsonga Other TOTAL
% of total 13.35% 8.2% 1.59% 17.64% 23.82% 9.39% 7.93% 8.2% 2.66% 2.28% 4.44% 0.48% 100% 22
Table 4 South African Languages
Besides the official languages, scores of others – African, European, Asian and more – are spoken in South Africa, as the country lies at the crossroads of southern Africa. Most South Africans are multilingual, able to speak more than one language. English- and Afrikaansspeaking people tend not to have much ability in indigenous languages, but are fairly fluent in each other's language. Most South Africans speak English, which is fairly ubiquitous in official and commercial public life. The country's other popular language is isiZulu. As mentioned before labour is still relatively cheap and in high amounts available on the employment market. The labour force is increasing constantly due improved quality of the educational system and due the rise of the ‘black diamonds’ (the well educated, high-earning, black middle class).
22
Ref. to South African Languages, Statistics South Africa Census and compiled by Author http://www.statssa.gov.za/census01/html/C2001publications.asp , 2001
26
Table 4, displayed below, indicates that the number of persons in the labour force increased by 213.000 between quarter 4 of 2010 and quarter 1 of 2011. Jan-Mar 2010 Population 15–64 yrs Labour force Employed Formal sector (non-agricultural) Informal sector (non-agricultural) Agriculture Private households Unemployed Not economically active Discouraged work-seekers Other (not economically active)
Oct-Dec 2010
Jan-Mar 2011
31 818 17 471 13 076 9 197 2 054 658 1 167
32 193 17 269 13 132 9 163 2 225 627 1 117
32 314 17 482 13 118 9 219 2 179 603 1 118
Year-onyear change (%) 1,6 0,1 0,3 0,2 6,1 -8,4 -4,2
4 395
4 137
4 364
-0,7
14 346 1 870 12 476
14 924 2 150 12 774
14 832 2 223 12 609
3,4 18,9 1,1
25,2 41,1 54,9
24,0 40,8 53,6
25,0 40,6 54,1
-0,2 -0,5 -0,8
Rates (%) Unemployment rate Employed / population ratio(absorption) Labour force participation rate 23
Table 5 Key labour market indicators
Compared to quarter 1 of 2010, there was an annual increase of 0,3% (or 42 000) in employment, a decrease of 0,7% (or 31 000) in the number of unemployed persons, and an increase of 3,4% (or 486 000) in the number of persons who are not economically active – 353 000 of which were discouraged work-seekers. Lightspeed can certainly benefit from the fact that the labour force is increasing and labour is getting more educated. Also in the group of economically inactive there is an increasing group of students. On annual base this group is increasing by 3,6% which stands for an increase of 209 000 students. Also this indicates that not only labour force in general is increasing, but also skilled and high skilled labour forces are increasing. In addition to this fact, South Africa has to prevent brain drain in order to serve the increasing demand of skilled labour.
23
Authors compilation with reference to Quarterly Labour Force Survey, Quarter 1, 2011 p.vi http://www.statssa.gov.za/publications/P0211/P02111stQuarter2011.pdf , 2011-05-03
27
Technological analysis Technology is vital for competitive advantage, and is a major driver of globalization. Especially the Internet is becoming, or already is primary source of information research as well as the preferred medium for personal and business interaction and discussion. Also for Lightspeed internet was the main trigger for starting up a business. However, it is still a fact that internet is less accessible in South Africa. Bandwidth also remains relatively limited and is expensive. Internet users in South Africa for year-end 2008 were estimated at 4,590,000 according to South African leading technology research organisation World Wide Worx. 24 This low penetration level of the internet by the domestic population in 2008 (10.5%) was largely due the high cost and due to an expensive operating environment created by Telkom SA’s dominance in the fixed-line and bandwidth market. Figure 1, the graphic below, indicates the percentage of internet usage world wide.
World Internet Penetration Rates World, Avg. Africa Asia Middle East Latin America / Caribbean Europe Oceania / Australia North America 0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
25
Figure 3 World Internet Penetration Rates by Geographical Regions 2010
With its relatively well developed and diverse infrastructure, South Africa is taking a regional lead role in the convergence of telecommunication and information technologies, promising the longawaited reduction in telecommunication costs and better availability of information and services. Sweeping liberalisation measures taken in 2005, like legalising the use of VoIP, have begun to change the country’s telecoms landscape fundamentally. Internet Service Providers (ISPs) are turning into phone companies, and vice versa. Both are moving into delivering audio and video content over their networks, while in turn the traditional electronic media carriers are discovering the potential of their infrastructure for telecommunications service delivery such as pay TV.
24
Ref. to Internet usage and Population Statistics, http://www.internetworldstats.com/africa.htm#za , 2010-12-01 25 Authors compilation, with references to Internetworldstats, http://www.internetworldstats.com/stats.htm , 2010-06-30
28
Year
Users
Population
% Pen.
Usage Source
2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2008 2009 2010
2,400,000 2,750,000 3,100,000 3,283,000 3,523,000 3,600,000 4,590,000 5,300,000 6,800,000
43,690,000 44,409,700 45,129,400 45,919,200 47,556,900 48,861,805 43,786,115 49,052,489 49,109,107
5.5 % 6.2 % 6.8 % 7.1 % 7.4 % 7.4 % 10.5 % 10.8 % 13,8%
ITU IWS ITU Wide World Worx Wide World Worx Wide World Worx W.W.W W.W.W W.W.W
26
Table 6: Internet users South Africa 2000-2010
South Africa has a vibrant mobile market that has seen rapid uptake of GSM since competition was introduced to the sector more than 15 years ago. With market penetration exceeding 70% and number portability introduced in 2006, the three network operators are increasingly forced to find innovative ways of distinguishing themselves from the competition in order to gain and retain customers. The introduction of mobile Internet and multimedia services via 3G mobile technology is one way of doing this and has lead to a marked increase in data traffic. Another is the adoption of the Mobile Virtual Network Operator (MVNO) model, highlighted by the entry of Virgin Mobile into the market. Another important development is the emergence and application of more and more open source software. Providers and users are starting to realise the benefits of products and services that are developed and modified by a community of professionals and other contributors. The utilisation of this collaboration leads to products that are developed to users` needs while continuously being optimised and improved. Additionally, the users benefit from low purchasing and operating licensing costs. Lightspeed has been monitoring the development of open-source software for a long time already and is making good use of the cost effective and user friendly approach of web developing. Also the increasing penetration of internet use is a big advantage and a positive trend for Lightspeed`s market. The developing technology allows Lightspeed to make products and services more cheaply and of a better standard quality. With the upcoming and booming developing mobile market, Lightspeed should take the opportunity of entering this market. However though, with making an initial investment, the unstable market conditions should be taken into account.
26
Ref. to Internet user stats South Africa, http://www.internetworldstats.com/stats.htm
29
Conclusion Potentials on the South African business market are growing rapidly. There is high growth potential due to the increased target group with a need and desire to catch up with the rest of the world. After the economical crisis in 2009, South Africa is catching up quickly and re-continuing the growth of its GDP. After the World Cup, South Africa has become more a world-wide well known and accepted business area. Therefore more international investors have been settling up their business here and helping to develop the (ICT) infrastructure such as liberalization of the Internet. Unemployed rates are slightly decreasing and employment rates increasing. The unemployment rate is still way too high and the economic status of South Africa is still not stable, but opportunities are been developing. There is growing competition in all markets, which is further enhanced by globalisation and the increase of foreign competitors/businesses. Due international influences the political status seems to get more stable and less corrupt. The Western Cape, which can be seen as one of the most progressive regions in South Africa, is the only region which is not owned by the ANC. New elections will show if South Africa is ready for a more progressive minded, democratic, liberal way of politic. With the upcoming internet infrastructure developments, such as the new sea cable, South Africa will get more access to the world and increase its globalisation which maybe can create another “internet revolution” such as we have seen in other African countries.
30
SWOT-Analysis The next chapter is dedicated to emphasis Lightspeed`s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. For this exercise I will use the SWOT-model.27 The PEST factors combined with the microeconomic factors can be classified as treats and opportunities in the SWOT analysis. The strengths and weaknesses have been formulated during interviews and general research of the company.
Strenghts
Weaknesses
1. Young and innovative character
1. Project reporting
2. Skills and knowledge Ashley
2. Internal communication
3. Specializing in Woo Themes
3. Low level of skilled personnel
4. Social media community
4. Financial power
SWOT Opportunities 1. Developing domestic economy 2. Increasing progressiveness 3. Improvement Internet infrastructure 4. Booming mobile internet market
Threats
1. Unstable political and economical environment 2. International competition 3. Brain drain 4. Losing skilled labour forces
28
Figure 4: SWOT-analysis
27 28
Ref. to Foundations of Marketing, D. Jobber & J. Fahy 2009, Chapter 2,3,4 Compiled by author
31
Strengths Four strengths have been identified. Each of them will be described in the following. 1. Young and innovative character Lightspeed has a young and innovative team. The three tiered managerial approach is working well for the flat-structured organisation. The latest tools are being used to improve cooperation and teamwork. A lot of people are from different study fields which makes the company diverse and creative. The team is open minded and with a high willingness to learn new things. 2. Skills and knowledge Ashley For the last 11 years, Ashley has been working in the field of ICT. He has been consulting, servicing and providing support to various companies in hardware, software, network and web solutions. Through these working experiences, a deep and comprehensive insight into customer need, and how to efficiently meet these needs, has been gained. Also through several public events and business classes such as Geek dinner29, WordPress Cape Town Meetup30, 27dinner31 and Velociti Enterprise Development Programme32, Ashley is expanding and deepening his knowledge regarding Web 2.0 and social media marketing. 3. Specializing in Woo Themes The market for web pages and blogs is already quite saturated and characterised with intense competition and tight price calculations. Lightspeed plans to attempt differentiate from these competitors through offering highly user-friendly solutions that are SEO and SMO-ready. This will be achieved through the application of open source software in combination with Woo themes and outstanding service. Formal work experience has proven that specializing in Woo themes is an effective way to operate and profitable for Lightspeed. 4. Social media community Lightspeed`s and mainly Ashley`s extensive work on building up a social media community has proven to be worth it. With daily posts on several social media platforms and keeping in contact with Lightspeed followers, Lightspeed has via this opportunity created many new clients and business leads. Just the fact of presenting the name out on the internet means that brand awareness is being created among potential clients of Lightspeed. With a changing target market where Lightspeed goes behind South African borders, is it important that the offered services, the name and recommendations are being visible for every user of the Internet.
29
Ref. to http://www.geekdinner.org.za/ Ref. to http://www.wordpress.org.za/ 31 Ref. to http://www.27dinner.com/ 32 Ref. to http://lsdev.biz/lightspeed-wins-the-2009-velociti-enterprise-development-programme/ 30
32
Weaknesses Four weaknesses have been identified. Each of them will be described in the following. 1. Project reporting As mentioned in the internal analysis, Lightspeed has some difficulties with setting up and maintaining projects. This is mainly due weak reporting on clients, the project status and other project management related subjects. Because there is not much standardization in this field, is it hard to use the project management tools. Employees are not used to the tools and often don`t even know of the existing of a tool. Also in busy times, which is often, employees are even less encouraged to report on their work. Therefore project management is not really contributing yet to improving efficiency and effectiveness. 2. Internal communication Because of many communication tools that are available and a relatively new team, employees need time to get used how to communicate with each other. Because of the easy use of email, people are writing too many emails which results into an overload of information. Therefore people need more time to prioritize their information streams and also important information gets lost in an overwhelming load of messages. 3. Low level of skilled personnel As mentioned in the PEST-analysis the educational system is improving but it is still hard to find good skilled personnel. The intention of Ashley to hire “low” skilled personnel and educate them himself is a very good way to create the specific knowledge you need. Although this is creating a weakness for Lightspeed when it comes to creating high profit and fulfilling the demands of customers in busy times. The general capacity of Lightspeed`s employees is not really high and this affects the efficiency and effectiveness of doing business. 4. Financial power One of the major problems is consistent financial power. Due a long summer holiday during midDecember to mid-January local businesses close their operations. This tendency has a double impact on Lightspeed`s business. Most of the Lightspeed staff will be on a holiday and also current and potential clients close their door which has an impact on the supply stream of work. More than that, South Africa knows a very bad payment behaviour where again due inconsistency in payments it is really hard to plan investments and long term expenses.
33
Opportunities Four opportunities have been identified. Each of them will be described in the following. 1. Developing domestic economy As mentioned during the economical analysis, the rising domestic economy and the amount of companies starting up each year, provide great potential to continuously gain new customers and investors. Combined with the stronger getting Rand and increasing GDP, South Africa and especially the Western Cape will be an effective area to operate in. 2. Increasing progressiveness As mentioned during the political analysis, the democratic alliance is stringing their forces and has taken the lead in the Western Cape. Due improved education and globalisation, people are getting more aware of what is going on in the rest of the world. People are getting more sceptical and critical about their own political system. Therefore the DA was able to take over the lead from the ruling ANC and will try to spread their political influences in other regions. With this political movement, more progressive people get influences in every field, such as in the business field. Lightspeed can use this opportunity by the simple fact of making use of a liberalizing market. 3. Improvement Internet infrastructure Now internet costs slightly decrease and broadband is getting used more and more, the quality of internet is increasing slowly. Together with the new sea cable, South Africa will get a decent and reliable internet infrastructure where with new competitors on the market prices will drop down and go to western standards. Since Lightspeed`s business is based on the Internet, this improvement will create a big opportunity to offer better service and expand products and services because of growing needs in the “internet society”. 4. Booming mobile internet market The decreasing (mobile) internet costs and the increasing living costs in the Cape Town area attach an opportunity for Lightspeed. More and more people are forced to live outside of the city area and move to the cheaper suburbs. In exchange, they will have to accept much longer travelling times and higher travelling costs to their working places. Therefore being mobile and working from home with time-effective online solutions will become more popular. As Lightspeed is specialising in this area, they can benefit from this business as well as applying remote working for themselves.
34
Threats Four threats have been identified. Each of them will be described in the following. 1. Unstable political and economical environment As mentioned during the political analysis, the political and economical environment in the local market is quite unstable at the moment. During the writing of this thesis there are elections going on where there is a big battle between the two biggest parties; ANC and the DA. Due a skill mismatch, wealth imbalance and a high unemployment rate, it is still hard to obtain stability in any environment. 2. International competition The increasing arrival of international players and investors can change from a possibility into a threat. Because of the lack of education in the local area, international players do have a big advantage. Also the standard service level requirements are general higher in western countries, which will give again international players an advantage to operate on the market. 3. Brain drain Due instability and low wages, there is the perceived risk that skilled people will move away from the Cape Town area to find jobs somewhere else. This will result into leaving unskilled people behind and thereby further increasing the social and economical problems in the area such as education level, unemployment and crime rate. Imbalance will further increase and the business area will be an unstable area to operate in. 4. Payment behaviour and legal assistance Paying invoices and following preset up agreements is not a normal behaviour for an average South African customer. For many clients it is common practice to pay late and only after several reminders. A lot of working time and interest money is getting lost due the incapability of customers regards their payment behaviour. Additionally the legal system in South Africa is not as effective and consistent as in more developed countries such as in the EU. Therefore it is often really easy to avoid the duty of paying the bill or there is no decent base regarding contract binding.
Conclusion Considering this afore mentioned analysis, Lightspeed has great opportunities to increase its business and sustain a potential big growth. With the yet very cost-efficient web solutions tailored to a customer`s need and the existing social media community, Lightspeed already has great chances to create many business leads. However, internal system and communication strategies have to be improved. With the continuous developing of new communication strategies, employees aren`t able to create an consistent way of working. Therefore Lightspeed should create a decent and professional work strategy to increase efficiency and effectiveness. Also, Lightspeed should be aware of the value of its employees. By investing in employees and creating a core operating team, Lightspeed can prevent brain drain and losing trained and skilled personnel. Having a consistent team also will affect the effectiveness of Lightspeed`s operations in a positive way. 35
SOLL-Situation The SOLL-situation is the desired position of a company, whereby through adjustment of objectives this position can be achieved. To determine the desired position of the organisation and its functional areas, two things are necessary: -
The results of internal analysis i.e. organisational diagnosis A new mission, vision, set strategy and organisational goals
In the following I will give a description of how from the current situation (IST-situation) the desired situation can be achieved (SOLL-situation).
IST
SOLL
- How is it currently running? - What works well?
How do we change the model/guidelines ?
- Where do we have critics?
- How do we interact internal? - How do we interact to customers, departments? - How do we handle projects?
- How do employees and management behave in a future situation?
- What are the new guidelines and principles?
- What are the written and unwritten rules, how is the organization currently being managed?
- According to what motto are we handeling?
Which of these rules/ guidelines/ mission statements should be: - Formulated new - Partially changed - Be maintained Figure 5: IST-situation to SOLL-situation cycle
36
When both elements can be fulfilled, the desired situation can be described, goals can be changed and improvement actions can be formulated. After this an appropriate change approach and select methods of intervention can be designed. In the following we will follow this approach and formulate input for a change strategy. Although the methods used for this part of the analysis are mainly based on the fact of managerial understanding, it is also very important for everyone else in the company to know what is going on. Several advantages for employees when there is clarity of goals: 1.
Involving employees in the whole process of goal setting and increasing employee empowerment. This increases employee job satisfaction and commitment. 2. Better communication and coordination. Frequent reviews and interactions between superiors and subordinates help to maintain harmonious relationships within the organisation and also to solve many problems. 3. Subordinates tend to have a higher commitment to objectives they set for themselves than those imposed on them by another person. 4. Managers can ensure that objectives of the subordinates are linked to the organisation's objectives.
37
Balanced Scorecard In this chapter we will define the new organisational goals, with making use of the Balanced Scorecard33(BSC). This tool is a powerful instrument to translate targets at various levels in the company into specific actions for improvement. Not only is the BSC a powerful tool to define targets, also it can be used to manage targets and therefore function as a management-dashboard.
Four perspectives The essential influencing factors that have impact on the successful managing of a company are divided into four perspectives: Financial, Customer, Internal Processes and Learning and innovation. In the following a brief description of each of the four perspectives.34 Financial: Because of Lightspeed`s intention to make profit, from a financial perspective the company should be analysed. With financial measurements and targets you create the potential to quantify the achieved value. With this, concrete statements about the added value can be done. Customer: At the end of the day, at every company it is about clients. Clients determine what a company has to deliver, at what price and with what quality standards. Internal processes: When a company controls its processes, it will be able to react adequate on the needs of the market and therefore reach the desired financial result. A right balance between people, resources and methods will result into the desired position. Learning and innovation: The first four perspectives are focused on the short to medium long term. Learning and innovation is completely focused on the long term. Every organisation and especially in the field of web-development has a limited life and must therefore invest in education of its employees and to sustain consistency. Measuring performance is based on the performance measures categories implemented in the BSC. These are measurable criteria where a quantitative score can be awarded to. Performance measures are derived from the key success factors of a company. These are modifiable factors that determine the success and continuity of a company. The identification of key factors arises from the strategic analysis, described in this report as the SWOT analysis. To ensure performance targets are measurable targets are pegged to determine whether progress is being made or not. In the last column of the BSC, the initiatives are described to translate the targets into specific actions for improvement.
Lightspeed A version of the Balanced scorecard of Lightspeed will be given in Appendix 5 of this report. A detailed description of the outcomes of the Balanced scorecard, focusing on the initiatives, will be given in the next chapter “Change Strategy”. As well as improvement actions deriving from the initiatives and a general new management strategy will be given in the following chapter.
33 34
Ref. to: Balanced Scorecard, Robert S. Kaplan and David P. Norton, 1990, http://www.balancedscorecard.org Ref. to Verandermanagement, Henk Kleijn and Fred Rorink, 2010
38
Project management process This chapter is dedicated to the project management process. A detailed description of the desired process will be given developed through interviews with the project manager, general manager and results of the previous analysis. -- See also Appendix 4: Project lifecycle new
Introduction Because of many good ideas and mind thoughts about improving the project lifecycle, a new project lifecycle was easy to develop. With a critical look at the different processes of each individual step of the life cycle, the current situation was relatively easy to project. However, coming up with applicable and executable actions for change is more difficult. To create a better understanding of the life cycle, a list of working documents has been created. As well as sign-off points have been created to create “save-points” and to ensure that actions are being executed on the right moment.
Phases On the base of every project Lightspeed is executing, the pure waterfall method35, a classical system development method is been used. This method consists of discontinuous phases: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6.
Concept Requirements Architectural design Detailed design Coding and development Testing and implementation
Although for the more complex projects Lightspeed is dealing with nowadays, a modified model of this version will be more effective. In the modified version of Lightspeed`s project lifecycle, we determine five different phases known as: Initial phase, Demo phase, Design phase, Development phase and Deployment phase. Initial phase Project initiation is the first phase in the project lifecycle and essentially involves starting up the project. The project manager will initiate a project by defining its purpose and scope, the justification for initiating it and the solution to be implemented. This will mainly happen via a client questionnaire where as many as possible tick boxes will get checked. After this questionnaire, the project manager will analyse the results and perform a needs assessment. Through a needs assessment form, functionalities and possible features can be determined. Once this is done a quotation will be done where also a work order will be created with terms and agreements. The client will sign-off on this document and agree with the contract by paying a 50% deposit. Finally a client database will be created in Dropbox with the sitemap as an architecture and content provided by the client. Also milestones and applicable sprints will be created in the project plan system. Once the client has provided all the needs for the demo phase, a sign-off will be given and Lightspeed will continue with the next phase. 35
Ref. to Project Lifecycle Models: How They Differ and When to Use Them, Business-esolutions http://www.business-esolutions.com/islm.htm#top , 2002
39
Demo phase The second phase in the project lifecycle involves mainly building the concept for the actual website. With the provided content from the previous phase and knowledge about the sitemap and structure, a demo site will be built. Once this is done a first run-through with the client will be executed and through assessment documents the changes will be determined and analysed. After this first assessment, the first round of changes to the demo site will get completed and the client will give a sign-off on the demo phase. Design phase The next phase in the project lifecycle involves the design part. Drawing from the information gathered up to this point, it’s time to determine the look and feel of the site. Designs are being made by freelancers and sent trough to the client for feedback. Through a feedback form the client will have the opportunity to give input on the design and express the likes and dislikes on the site design. After this feedback phase a first round of changes will be executed and again a design will be sent to the client for the second feedback session. After approving this design a sign-off will be given by the client and development can begin. Development phase The developmental stage is the point where the web site itself is created. At this time, the web designer will take all of the individual graphic elements from the prototype and send them through to the developers of Lightspeed. The developers use them to create the actual, functional site. After developing the designs including all the elements such as interactive contact forms, flash animations or ecommerce shopping carts etc. the first in-house testing will be executed. After the first testing phase the first round of changes and fixes will be completed. The tested version will be sent to the client for the first feedback session. Through a feedback form comments and recommendations will be collected and analysed to start the second round of testing and fixing changes. After this phase a sign-off will be given on the new version and the deployment phase can begin. Deployment phase The deployment phase involves releasing the final deliverables to the customer, handing over project documentation to the business, terminating supplier contracts, releasing project resources and communicating project closure to all stakeholders. First the website will be deployed live with a password protection where next the client signs off the website. After the sign-off there will be an option to have backend training. Either the client requests a one-on-one training or video tutorials will be sent. Thereafter the opportunity will be given to load more content to the website if need-be. Finally the client gives the final sign-off and agrees with every condition by paying the remaining 50% in 10 days according to the imposed terms of payment.
Conclusion Concluded we can state that there are two important improvements that have to be done to realise the SOLL-situation. Mainly strict sign-off points and improved or even new created standard documents have to be implemented to optimise the project lifecycle. This will result into an improved waterfall structured project approach with elements from a spiral approach when it comes to the review moments.
40
Change strategy and recommendations In this final chapter a change strategy for Lightspeed will be given. This change strategy can be used to pursuit the business goals mentioned before in the SOLL-situation. Mainly all strategies described in this chapter are deriving from the Balanced scorecard and can therefore be linked to the performance measures as well as the targets and the actual key success factors. In the following a short introduction on every major focus point will be given, followed by the actual action plan and recommendations. Finally general recommendations will be given on the actual status of Lightspeed.
41
Project lifecycle For the project lifecycle, every element of the cycle will be given with actual targets to be able to pursuit the ideal project lifecycle as described in the SOLL-situation.
Initial phase For the initial phase there are several things that have to be done. First of all there must be made sure that there is a client questionnaire for every client with no exceptions. Existing clients with different projects will be asked to review their details and fill in all new applicable data. 1. Every client fills in the questionnaire Next a needs assessment must be executed to come up with ideas for functionalities and features. Via a needs assessment document, similar patterns can be detected in different projects and therefore a better time estimation can be given for the quotation. 2. Needs assessment document must be created and used to detect patterns and determine functionalities and features After all the needs and influencing factors are clear and well formulated, a sign-off should be given by the client on the summary of agreements. This would be a combination between a quotation, project work order and terms and agreements with payment schedule. 3. Create project work order in order to get sign-off for the actual job. (see appendix 5 for example) When the contractual agreements are set and milestones are created, the last step will consist of creating a work environment for the client. 4. Create Dropbox for client with sitemap derived from needs assessment. Put milestones into the project planning and set deadlines for delivery content. If every single element has been fulfilled, a sign-off on the first phase will be provided by the client.
Demo phase During the demo phase, after the website demo is built and all content is loaded, a first assessment with the client will be executed. To make sure that every single element will be reviewed, an assessment document will be used to determine all desired changes. 5. Create assessment document to use during review phase of demo site After the first round of changes a new sign-off will be given by the client to continue to the next phase.
42
Design phase After the first design is sent trough to the client, a feedback form is needed to determine what changes should be applied to go on to the development phase. These feedback results should be collected and managed. 6. Create feedback form for 1st and 2nd design review moment After the second feedback session has been executed a sign-off on the design phase will be provided by the client.
Development phase During the development phase there is not many more to think of then focusing on the client`s need. After testing and delivering the first fully developed version, a feedback session should be executed where all the feedback should be collected and processed. 7. Create feedback form for 1st and 2nd development review moment After the second feedback session has been executed a sign-off on the development phase will be provided by the client.
Deployment phase In the final phase, the deployment phase, several documents has to be created before the desired situation can be pursued. After a website has been deployed (with password protection) to the live location the client gives a sign-off on this phase. After this there are two options for backend training, one-on-one training or training via video tutorials. 8. Develop standard one-on-one training program 9. Develop video tutorials for backend training After the client finalised the website and paid the second part of the invoice, the site will be launched live. After this a general questionnaire should be held to question the client about the delivered services. Including this questionnaire a request for a testimonial will be done to present on the corporate website. 10. Create final questionnaire for client to grade delivered services
Conclusion Concluded we can state that there must be developed a list of documentation to reach the desired situation as mentioned in the SOLL-situation. To be able to achieve this, internal projects must be started where time and money must be reserved to get such material developed. Once all the documentation is there, workshops by the project manager can be given to employees to ensure that the approach is clear for every employee. Via the retrospective meetings input can be given on the development of the project lifecycle and therewith a perfect project lifecycle for Lightspeed can be created.
43
Balanced scorecard The balanced scorecard has been developed in order to give some guiding when it comes to execute the determined organisational goals. In the following every field will be stated (financial, customer, internal processes and learning) where next an explanation will be given for the initiatives in order to execute them and pursue the targets to be achieved.
Financial There are five different financial key success factors determined. - Increase profitability; In order to be able to increase the profit margin up to 50% by the end of this financial year, investments must be done in the field of team training and writing better code. These training sessions can be done in-house, via knowledge sharing and retrospective meetings, but also via external consulting sessions. - Ability to pay bonuses; This key success factor can be achieved if the profit margin has increased to 50% by end of the year. This key success factor is therefore dependent on the outcome of the key success factor stated before. - Increase revenue; In order to achieve this goal, the monthly turnover consisting of 200.000 ZAR per month must be maintained. If this can be achieved the total revenue increases from 1.7 million to 2.4 million ZAR. - Increase salary; Again this key success factor will be dependent on the outcome of the first key success factor stated. Once the profit margin is increased there will be space for a 10 to 20% salary increase. Therefore changes in the budget plan must be made and expenses must be recalculated. - Having a structured one year expenses plan; In order to be able to achieve all before stated goals, a structured expenses plan must be created. Now there is a more solid stream of incoming revenues, a monthly and yearly expenses plan can be created. In this plan, all expenses must be divided into different categories in order to allocate costs better.
Customer There are four different customer key success factors determined: - Improve brand image; In order to improve the brand image as a web development company, first of all the corporate website must be in outstanding condition. This means in any way, from design to functionality to regular updating of the portfolio to regular blogging and keeping the community alive. This same community can be kept alive via social media. Via twitter, facebook, flickr and more social media accounts, regular updating should be maintained. Important is to give the clients certainty about discussed topics and blog posts. If the client regular reads about the in-house knowledge of Lightspeed and gets the possibility to get involved, the image of the brand will automatically improve by the client`s confidence. - Improve brand awareness; In order to get the name on the market, events can be useful. Therefore attending social events, related to any element of Lightspeed`s business should be on the agenda. Also organising events itself, such as the Wordcamp event, are huge brand awareness improvers. In the yearly expenses plan, financial space should be created for attending or organising events in the future. Also interns could be hired to organise events such as the Wordcamp event. - Client testimonials; Especially to improve the brand awareness, client testimonials can become handy if big clients post positive wordings about Lightspeed. In order to get those testimonials, post project follow up must be pursued and executed with an outstanding level of service. Also making use of a final questionnaire as mentioned before can increase the amount of incoming testimonials. 44
- Client happiness; To keep a client constantly happy depends on many factors. Providing stable, effective and secure websites, where an uptime of 99,9% can be ensured, will satisfy and make the client happy. In order to achieve this, a solid hosting base with an outstanding infrastructure must be developed and money for this basis layer must get reserved.
Internal processes There are three different internal process key success factors determined: - Improve business practices and efficiencies; As one of the major research topics, this report gives a view on the project lifecycle. The main recommendation is based on the use of standardised documents. Therefore, to improve business practices and efficiencies, these documents should be used. Once the project lifecycle process is standardised, other processes, business practices and efficiencies will get more manageable and will get improved. - Continuous improvement; During the retrospective team meetings, positive and improvement points should be mentioned by every employee. This is to stimulate employees to solve as many problems/failures as possible. Notes have to be made during this meeting in order to manage the (repeating) failures. Once people are allocated to solving a certain failure, the manager will have the possibility to track the process. - Optimise project lifecycle; Where team training has started, should be continued with the developing of better software. Not just process wise the project lifecycle can be improved. Also via software that automates processes and therefore saves time, the project lifecycle can get more efficient.
Learning There are four different internal process key success factors determined: - Recruit more freelancers; In order to be able to handle more projects, more freelancers should be hired. Especially since Lightspeed stopped doing in-house design, reliable and qualitative freelancers are needed to maintain the number of incoming projects. Via bonus systems freelancers can get attracted to Lightspeed, where for the long term strategy it is important to develop a core group of freelancers in order to be able to respond quicker on project requests. - Improve knowledge and skills of team; Due hiring relatively unskilled employees, investments are needed to improve the general knowledge and skills of the team. With providing E-books and articles, pro-active reading can be stimulated and employees can develop their skills by sharing the information during retrospective meetings. - Retain existing staff; If investments in employees are being done, employees getting a high value for the company. Therefore it is important to retain the staff which can be achieved by keeping the team happy. Providing the team with good equipment, making the office a pleasant place to work and organising social events for team building, will all dedicate to keeping the team happy. Of course salary will also influence the individual happiness of an employee. - Creating internal learning system; To implement more sustainability into the company, a learning system has to be developed. This system will dedicate with teaching juniors and freelancers, as well as it will create value for the company in order of developing own curriculums. The framework has to be easy to use and easy to reach. By creating video`s, writing documents and collecting articles, a framework can be realised.
45
Final conclusion and recommendations First, it is important to note that after all the different analysis’s we can argue that Lightspeed is on the right track concerning the analysed areas and areas beyond. In various areas of business operations there has been a major development occurred. Not only the manager but also employees are heavily involved in this development. However, there is always room for improvement. With the results of this report and the conversations that were held, new possibilities for improvement are created for Lightspeed. Because the last chapter was dedicated to the strategy of change and many recommendations have been done, a final recommendation, more than “make use of this report”, would be somewhat superfluously. Although, Lightspeed is generally recommended to focus on one thing at a time during the implementation of the previously described change strategy. Finally, one can say that after optimisation of current business operations, Lightspeed will have great opportunities to become leading Wordpress guru in South Africa. When Lightspeed continues focussing on what they do best and no so much on enlargement or expansion of its current business, there will be little obstruction to great success.
46
Evaluation (Dutch) Om de evaluatie in goede orde te laten verlopen, verdeel ik het in drie stukken. Beginnen zal ik met de inhoudelijke evaluatie, in dit deel zal ik ingaan op de doelen die vooraf zijn opgesteld en nagaan of deze doelen behaald zijn of niet. In het tweede deel evalueer ik de procesgang. Hierin zal ik nagaan of ik alles volgens vooraf opgesteld plan heb uitgevoerd, middels de vooraf opgestelde methoden. Afsluitend geef ik een persoonlijke evaluatie met daarin een beschrijving van mijn persoonlijk behaalde doelen.
Inhoudelijk Gezien de methode in het boek Verandermanagement mijns inziens een samenvatting geeft van veel, in onze studieloopbaan, behandelde theorie, leek het mij goed hier mijn afstudeeropdracht op te baseren. Door gebruik te maken van deze verzameling methoden kon ik mijn afstudeeropdracht, geheel volgens het afstudeerreglement, systematisch en gestructureerd uitvoeren. Tijdens voorgaande projecten hebben we telkens een deel van dit model uitgevoerd, maar nooit in zijn geheel. Doordat de opdracht vanuit de organisatie in het begin nog niet geheel duidelijk was, moest ik zelfstandig veel werk verrichten om concrete doelen te formuleren en projectgrenzen af te bakenen. Hierbij werd een proactieve houding gevraagd, welke ik mijns inziens tijdens het gehele afstudeertraject heb laten zien. Gezien de voorafgaande complicaties met een eerder afstudeerproject, ben ik vrij ad hoc in de organisatie Lightspeed gekomen. Hierdoor had mijn bedrijfsbegeleider niet altijd tijd vrij en moest ik zelf veel knelpunten oplossen. Dit resulteerde af en toe in een situatie waarbij ik niet echt vooruitgang kon boeken. Echter, door vaak ook hulp van andere collega`s, kon ik weer onderbouwd verder werken en zodoende vooruitgang boeken. Door het samenwerken met collega`s, kon ik nieuwe kennis verwerven en deze tevens toepassen op mijn onderzoek. Veel additionele kennis heb ik opgedaan tijdens de verschillende analyses. Hierbij leerde ik statistisch onderbouwd een analyse uit te voeren. Tevens leerde ik verderop in het traject informatie te filteren uit gesprekken met mijn bedrijfsbegeleider. Wanneer mijn bedrijfsbegeleider, met een overvloed aan goede intenties, zijn monoloog begon over een bepaald onderwerp, was het vaak lastig dat eruit te halen wat toepasbaar was voor mijn onderzoek. Door deze oefening herhaaldelijk uit te voeren, merkte ik hoe ik steeds beter tot de kern van zijn punt kon komen en zodoende steeds beter de informatie kon filteren en gebruiken. Opgedane presentatiekennis en communicatiekennis heb ik meermaals kunnen toepassen tijdens mijn project. Hierop kreeg ik dan ook vaak positieve feedback. Tevens mijn documentatiekennis, in de vorm van het schrijven van een adviesrapport, heeft mij zeer geholpen.
Procesmatig Zoals eerder vermeld was tijdens het schrijven van het plan van aanpak nog niet geheel duidelijk wat er precies opgeleverd moest worden. Wel kwamen er geluiden uit de richting van het projectmanagement, maar wat er precies onderzocht moest worden en welke oplossing voorgedragen moest worden was nog niet vastgesteld. Zodoende heb ik mij geheel gebaseerd op het model van verandering volgens het boek Verandermanagement. Hieruit viel op te maken dat achtereenvolgend de volgende onderdelen uitgevoerd moesten worden; Interne analyse, Externe analyse, SWOT-analyse, SOLL-situatie, GAP-analyse en de uiteindelijke veranderstrategie.
47
Verder uit gesprekken met de bedrijfsbegeleider bleek dat er ook vraag was naar een overzicht van de bedrijfsdoelen, waarna ik besloten heb een balanced scorecard te ontwikkelen. Voor elk van deze onderdelen heb ik een opleverdatum vastgesteld. Uiteindelijk ben ik nauwelijks afgeweken van het vooraf opgestelde plan en heb ik alleen besloten de GAP-analyse niet te beschrijven. Gezien de opbouw van mijn rapport leek het mij overbodig om nog eens het verschil aan te tonen tussen de huidige en gewenste situatie. Hierdoor heb ik besloten direct over te gaan op de veranderstrategie en waar nodig in het hoofdstuk de essentiële verschillen nog eens benadrukt. Zodoende heb ik mij vrijwel geheel aan de vooraf opgestelde methode gehouden en daarnaast ook voldaan aan de vastgestelde oplevertermijnen.
Persoonlijk Buiten de vooraf opgestelde afstudeerdoelen heb ik enkele persoonlijke doelen opgesteld. Deze doelen zijn te vinden in hoofdstuk 8 van het Plan van Aanpak V1.0. Voornamelijk het functioneren binnen een buitenlandse organisatie en het ervaren van een nieuwe leef- en bedrijfscultuur zijn hierbij hoofddoelen geweest. Oorspronkelijk had ik tevens als doel gesteld sociaal verantwoordelijk werk te gaan doen. Helaas heb ik deze doelstelling niet voltallig kunnen behalen door afkeuring van mijn eerste oorspronkelijke afstudeeropdracht. Echter was het ook ditmaal weer interessant in een vibrerende omgeving te functioneren. De omstandigheden en werkmethodes verschillen dusdanig van de Nederlandse werkcultuur dat het herhalend een uitdaging was om zich aan te passen. Niet alleen de Afrikaanse interpretatie van op tijd komen verschilt, maar ook de waarde van “een afspraak hebben” kan niet gelijk gesteld worden aan Nederlandse normen. Mijns inziens hebben deze factoren weldegelijk bijgedragen aan de complexiteit van de afstudeeropdracht. Over het algemeen ben ik zeer tevreden over de behaalde persoonlijke competenties. Ik ben van mening dat ik een hoop geleerd heb van deze periode. Zo heb ik op dit moment besloten om voor onbepaalde tijd terug te gaan naar Zuid-Afrika en hier te gaan werken. Ik ben van mening dat het voor mijn persoonlijke ontwikkeling belangrijk is om mij de komende tijd te begeven in een niet Nederlandse cultuur.
48
Literature Books Ref. to Verandermanagement, Henk Kleijn and Fred Rorink, 2010, a model for planned change. ISBN: 9043095095 27 Ref. to Foundations of Marketing, D. Jobber & J. Fahy 2009, Chapter 2,3,4 ISBN: 0077121902
Websites 2
Ref. to Statistics South Africa: Key findings for the fourth quarter of 2010, http://www.statssa.gov.za/PublicationsHTML/P04414thQuarter2010/html/P04414thQuarter2010.html , 2011-02-22 3 Ref. to Statistics WordPress.com, http://en.wordpress.com/stats/ , 2011-04-19 5 Ref. to Scrum project methodology, http://scrummethodology.com/ , 2009-01-06 6 Ref. to P2 theme WordPress, http://p2theme.com/ 7 Ref. to Trac open source project, http://trac.edgewall.org/, 2011-01 8 Ref. to Google docs, https://docs.google.com/ 9 Ref. to Google talk, http://www.google.com/talk/ 10 Ref. to BuddyPress, http://buddypress.org/ , 2011 11 Ref. to website Lightspeed, http://lsdev.biz , 2011 12 Ref. to WordPress Plugin, http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/wptouch/ , 2011-04-26 13 Ref. to ScribeSEO, http://scribeseo.com/ , 2011 14 Ref. to WebCEO, http://www.webceo.com/ , 2011 17 Ref. to South Africa`s political parties, South Africa`s nation assembly http://www.southafrica.info/about/democracy/polparties.htm , unknown 18 Ref. to African Economic Outlook; South Africa http://www.africaneconomicoutlook.org/en/countries/southern-africa/south-africa/ , 2011-04-08 19 Ref. to Mid-year population estimates 2010, Statistics South Africa http://www.statssa.gov.za/publications/p0302/p03022006.pdf , 2010-07-20 20 Ref. to Mid-year population estimates 2010, Statistics South Africa and compiled by Author http://www.statssa.gov.za/publications/p0302/p03022006.pdf , 2010-07-20 21 Ref. to South Africa: fast facts, Education http://www.southafrica.info/about/facts.htm 22 Ref. to South African Languages, Statistics South Africa Census and compiled by Author http://www.statssa.gov.za/census01/html/C2001publications.asp , 2001 23 Authors compilation with reference to Quarterly Labour Force Survey, Quarter 1, 2011 p.vi http://www.statssa.gov.za/publications/P0211/P02111stQuarter2011.pdf , 2011-05-03 24 Ref. to Internet usage and Population Statistics, http://www.internetworldstats.com/africa.htm#za , 2010-12-01 25 Authors compilation, with references to Internetworldstats, http://www.internetworldstats.com/stats.htm , 2010-06-30 26 Ref. to Internet user stats South Africa, http://www.internetworldstats.com/stats.htm 29 Ref. to http://www.geekdinner.org.za/ 30 Ref. to http://www.wordpress.org.za/ 31 Ref. to http://www.27dinner.com/ 32 Ref. to http://lsdev.biz/lightspeed-wins-the-2009-velociti-enterprise-development-programme/ 33 Ref. to: Balanced Scorecard, Robert S. Kaplan and David P. Norton, 1990, http://www.balancedscorecard.org 35 Ref. to Project Lifecycle Models: How They Differ and When to Use Them, Business-esolutions http://www.business-esolutions.com/islm.htm#top , 2002
49
Appendix 1: Organisational structure
Figure 6 : Organisational chart Lightspeed
50
Appendix 2: Project lifecycle current Step 1 2 3 4 5
Description Issue proposal to client Issue 50% deposit invoice Project is planned in to applicable sprint Client given deadline to have all content & sitemap ready Demo phase kicks off
Dependency Client website questionnaire to be completed in full Proposal signed off by client Payment of 50% deposit invoice received
6 7 8 9 10 11 12
Website demo is built and all content loaded (NO design, only content + site structure) 1st run-through of demo with client 1st round of changes to demo completed Demo structure signed off with client - Site Architecture Freeze Date Design phase kicks off Design is sent through to client for feedback 1st round of changes based on client feedback
All content has been supplied by client All content has been supplied by client All changes to be documented by client in one communication
13 14 15 17 18 19
Design signed off with client Development phase kicks off Inhouse testing 1st round of changes/fixes completed Client testing / feedback 2nd round of changes/fixes Required functionality & all development work signed off with client - Site Functionality Freeze Date Website deployed with password protection to live location Client signs off website on live (site is still password protected) If client requests backend Training assistance they have 2 options: (1) One-on-one training or (2) Video tutorials are sent Client adds more content to their website if need-be Final 50% invoice is issued Client gives final go-ahead to launch
Note: If more changes are requested, then budget will be discussed. Client has signed off on demo and design phases Functional elements ready for testing Inhouse testing has been completed in full
20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27
Site goes LIVE
Detailed sitemap has been supplied by client
Client has supplied all design elements required All changes to be documented by client in one communication
All changes to be documented by client in one communication
Client has signed off on development phase
One-on-one training costs extra
Payment of final 50% invoice is received, no live launch until payment received
Table 7: Project lifecycle old
51
Appendix 3: Project lifecycle new •Issue proposal to client •Issue 50% deposit invoice •Project is planned into applicable sprint Initial phase •Client given deadline to have all content & sitemap ready
•Website demo is built and all content loaded (NO design, only content + site structure) •1st run-through of demo with client Demo phase •1st round of changes to demo completed
Design phase
•Design is sent through to client for feedback •1st round of changes based on client feedback
•Inhouse testing •1st round of changes/fixes completed Development •Client testing / feedback •2nd round of changes/fixes phase •Website deployed with password protection to live location •Client signs off website on live (site is still password protected) •If requested, backend training with 2 options: (1) One-on-one training or (2) Video tutorials are sent Deployment •Client adds more content to their website if need-be phase •Final 50% invoice is issued •Client gives final go-ahead to launch and website will go LIVE
Figure 7: Project lifecycle
52
Appendix 4: Project work order Contact Details
Dates
Specifications
Client name and Company:
John Smith, ABC enterprise
[email protected]
Consultant name and company: Project start: Milestones:
Ashley Shaw, Lightspeed Development
[email protected] August 1st, 2011 Demo phase - August 10th, 2011 Design phase - August 20th, 2011 Development phase - August 30th, 2011
Project finish: Design
September 10th, 2011 Redesign of the current ABC enterprise website including revisions, reviews and approval Valid coding of the design into HTML/CSS and implementation into a development environment
Development
Application of the design into a WordPress CMS system Creation of placeholder content pages for each main area (Home, About, Services, Contact) Construction and testing of a contact web form
Review
Project review session Final review and approval Backend training for WordPress CMS systems Handoff to ABC Enterprise IT team
53
Appendix 5: Balanced Scorecard Key success factors
Performance Measures
Targets
Initiatives
Financial - Increase profitability - Ability to pay bonuses - Increase revenue - Increase salary - Having a structured one year expenses plan
- Margin of profit - Number of bonuses - Increasing turnover - Yearly percentage - Calculated expenses
- 50% by end year - Double Dec. month - From 1.7-2.4 - 10-20% yearly - Budget plan by August `11
- Training and writing better code - Increase profit margin - Maintain 200k monthly turnover - Increase profit margin - Projecting main expenses by history and planning future expenses
Customer - Improve brand image
- Higher number of incoming leads
- Double big leads in 1 year
- Improve brand awareness - Client testimonials
- WP camp outcome - Number of testimonials
- Successful event for 150 - 2 a month
- Client happiness
- Stable, effective and secure websites
- 99,9% uptime
- Website update, regular blogging, WP camp, social media - Organising the event 15-09-2011 - Post project follow up, asking for grading service - Building stable hosting, infrastructure
- Number of standard documents - Number of repeating fails - Standardised work, getting sign-offs and delivering according to plan
- Standardised PLC process - Monthly team meeting - 15-20% time saving
- Thesis research results - Retrospective team meeting - Write software automates processes, that were manual, less code needs to be written
- Number of freelancers - Less senior assistance needed - Consistency of staff
- From 5 to 10 - Less blockers - Employment time per employee is 2+ years - 15-20% time saving
- Active networking - Stimulate article reading - Investing in team, in a way of equipment and team building - Create framework that is easy to use, creating video`s and writing documents/checklists
Internal processes - Improve business practices and efficiencies - Continuous improvement - Optimise project lifecycle (PLC)
Learning - Recruit more freelancers - Improve knowledge and skills of team -Retain existing staff - Creating internal learning system
- Reduced time spent on projects by freelancers and juniors
54
